


Denial

by Fearkat



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Dogs, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Gen, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Memories, Mental Breakdown, Mild Gore, Self-Harm, Starvation, The Author Regrets Everything, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 40,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8088331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fearkat/pseuds/Fearkat
Summary: "You can't keep running away, you know." Ling's voice echoed in his mind, more than it should've. "Ugh, shut up kid, trying to sleep over here." He opened one of his eyes in his demon form, and the realization hit him. "...Ling?" He looked from side to side, where the hell was Ling? They shared a mind together, so why wasn't he with him? He couldn't have just disappeared. "Ling!" He called out. Then it faded to black, pitch, darkness, he could've called it many things.Greed figures out what a nightmare feels like.





	1. Rain

**Author's Note:**

> I just feel like there's not enough GreedLing fanfics, so might as well.

Many things had gone through Greed's mind at that moment, he just saw his own brother kill his younger one, only to get his abilities and strength. But that was the  _least_ of his problems. If anything, he was glad that the 'big fat slob' was gone, he never liked him. The major thing that was on his mind was one thing. ' _Wrath'._ He was being held back by his crew and had to wait to get his revenge, but he also had to recover from what happened. He didn't like to talk about what happened on that day, he never did. But that didn't matter, what did was his revenge. And his revenge only.

 

And it still did, as he was walking through the deep green woods, crickets chirping and frogs croaking making their own type of music which was annoying to him. He made up his mind, and he couldn't just turn back...well actually, he could. But he didn't. So he kept on treading through the forest, he felt the cool breeze hit him softly. The continuing sounds of the night and the coolness of the breeze made him feel sleepy, which that rarely happened. Greed came to a halt and turned his head towards an oak tree, then walked to it, his posture was more lazy that before. He yawned and sat down, leaning against the tree. He was satisfied with how this turned out, but he didn't feel like he felt with other situations, he just felt...

 

Okay.

 

He stared at a random bush, feeling the weight of sleepiness slowly forcing them down. As time went by, it became more stronger and he blinked a couple times. His eyelids slowly closed, and soon he was falling into a deep sleep.

 

 _"You can't keep running away, you know."_  Ling's voice echoed in his mind, more than it should've.

 

"Ugh, shut up kid, trying to sleep over here." He opened one of his eyes in his demon form, and the realization hit him, so he opened the other one. "...Ling?" He looked from side to side, no sight of the boy who looked identical to him. They shared a mind together, so why wasn't he with him? He couldn't have just disappeared. "Ling! Quit screwing with me!" He called out. Then it faded to black, pitch, darkness, he could've called it many things.

 

"Ling...?" He mumbled, then it hit him. When he was walking to Central, when he was doing all of those things...where  _was_ Ling??

 

He turned around, confused. And honestly not knowing what to do. "Ling, where are you?!" His voice, showing the emotion of worrying. He closed his eyes, maybe it was a hallucination. When he opened them, he couldn't really comprehend what was going on.

 

He was standing alone, in a green grassy field, as far as he could see. The  pure blue cloudless sky had went on for eternity as if he was on a planet that was just grass, it seemed. He was amazed, and his mouth was slightly open in awe. "What the hell..." He turned around and his eyes met dark grey, almost black eyes. Ling was standing in front of him, with his shifty eyes and poker face, as usual.

 

"Ling!" Greed walked up to him, slightly mad. "Ling, where the hell are we?" Ling was silent. Showed no signs of acknowledgement that Greed was standing in front of him. "Hey! Answer me when I'm talking to you!" Nothing. Like he was deaf and blind at the same time, now he was more pissed than before.

 

"You damn brat, hello?!" He put his hand up against his face to smack him, but he hit air. "...Wha?" His hand went straight through his head, as if he was a ghost. Ling's entire being faded away, and he was no more. "Ling!" He stared at the place he was standing at. Confused, he shouted at any possible person that was there. "ANYBODY?!" His voice echoed. He was at a loss, he had no clue what to do. Not even his avarice was giving any helpful hints.

 

 He felt something hit his face, something very small and almost not noticeable. He felt something luke warm trail down his cheek and hit the grass, and raised his hand to touch his face. He removed it and stared at his hand. 

 

"Blood?" The crimson fluid stained his skin. He felt another droplet fall on his sleeve. He turned his head towards the sky and more drops fell from the sky, falling on the grass, blood was on his clothes and face. It started to rain blood. He could've swore a drop fell in his mouth as he was staring agape. He wanted to run, he wanted to get out, he was covered in  _blood._ Now it was pouring down rain. What was he feeling at this moment? It was something he'd never felt in a very long time...Fear.

 

"...Wake up..." He whispered. "Wake up! Come on!" He felt his knees give in and he fell to his knees, gripping his hair, as if he was trying to rip it out.

 

"Wake up!!" He yelled again. His breaths became uneven. "WAKE UP!!"

* * *

 

Greed's body shot up, eyes wide open. Sweating bullets, and panting. It took a few moments to gather his composure, and his eyes focused on the 3 people looking inside his tent with a worried look on their faces. Ling didn't say anything, but his expression showed it all.

 

"Greed, hey, are you okay?" Ed asked. Heinkel and Darius were giving him the same look Ling was giving him. His panting became more slower, and he put a hand up to his forehead. His mind was in a daze, and he couldn't think straight. His crew was waiting for a response, but despite not being able to think straight, he could make out small things. "I'm fine..." He mumbled. "I just...need to..get some fresh air." 

 

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and crawled out of the tent, while the others moved their bodies to let him through. He was barefooted and his dark green long coat was off, yet he didn't remember taking it off. He didn't even remember going to sleep. All he could remember was flashbacks of what occurred in the dream.

 

Which he was too stubborn to call it a Nightmare.

 

He stumbled towards a tree, and leaned against it. Trying to calm himself down, he took in deep breaths, which somewhat helped. " _Greed. What was that?"_ Ling asked him from inside his mind. "It was nothing, Ling. Just..forget about it."

 

" _Forget about it my ass._ " Ling's aggressive behavior slightly startled him. " _You do know I saw everything, right?_ " Greed swallowed and sighed. "So instead of saying anything, you just watched me get drenched in blood. Such a great prince you are." He rolled his eyes. " _That wasn't me, I wasn't in your dream. It was a dream version of me, so don't jump to conclusions."_ He said. " _But like I said, Greed. I saw all of it. But I have one question, when did Gluttony get eaten by Pride? That-...That never happened. And even if it happened in your dream, I don't remember it happening."_

 

"That's because it didn't." He said. "But if I'm right...not yet, it hasn't." He slid his hands into his pockets. " _Are you saying that you have dreams that can tell the future?"_  Ling crossed his arms. "What? No!" He groaned. He turned around and faced the tree, and without hesitation he grabbed it and hit his head against it, letting out another groan. As this was happening, Ed was watching him basically talk to himself.

 

"You think he's gonna be okay?" 

 

"Well it sure looked like he was having one hell of a nightmare, even for a Homunculus like him." Heinkel sat down near the burnt out fire. "Hey, you have that pocket watch thing, what time is it?" Ed reached in his pockets and took out his silver pocket watch for State Alchemists and flipped it open. "..3:27" Just as he said that, Greed came back to the small camp.

 

"...What the hell are you guys standing around for? If ya wanna go to sleep, go ahead. I'm staying out here...keeping watch." 

 

"Right..." Darius could see right through him, they all could. Darius yawned and walked towards his tent. "'Night." He crawled inside it. Heinkel did the same, and as Ed was about to go into his, he looked back at Greed. "You sure you're okay?"

 

"Yeah, I'm good." He flashed his signature smirk, yet it was questionable. "Alright." Ed waved. "G'night, Greed." He went into his tent. Greed's smirk disappeared and he tilted his head towards the sky that was still dark. It was clear to Ling that he was paranoid that blood would come down from the sky, even though that was practically impossible. But then again, the word impossible never stopped Greed, with anything. 

 

_"Are you okay?"_

 

"Stop asking me that, it's annoying." He rolled his eyes.  _"Well, are you?"_

 

"For the last time, yes!" Greed took in a deep breath and let it out.

 

"I'm okay." 

 


	2. Boss

"..Ow."

 

"..."

 

"..Ow..."

 

"..."

 

"OW! Ed, are you trying to pull my hair out or something?!" Greed looked back feeling agitated, though this is what he gets for not taking the time to brush his long hair that almost made him want to cut it off himself, but Ling would only allow it over his dead body or technically, soul. Either his hair was really knotted up or Ed was doing it on purpose to get him back for taking over Ling's body. "Oh be quiet, I've lived with long hair almost all my life. You don't see any complaining here, do you? So suck it up."

 

"Hey, I am Greed the Avaricious, also known as your boss and I will  _not_ take orders from a little brat like you."

 

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE, HUH?!" He yelled and started ranting on. " _You,_ ya piss ant!"

 

_"Now just hold on a second, I thought that was my nickname."_

 

"Oh shut it, Ling. And you know what? Forget it, it's already brushed enough." He was about to tie it up in a pony tail but stopped. "...How do I do this?" Ed let out a dramatic sigh and moved Greed's hands out of the way with his own. "Here, let me do it...Have you gotten any sleep yet?" Greed averted his eyes. He had an important rule, he never told a lie. "..No, not really."

 

"Well you should." He said as he tightened up the pony tail. "All done." Ed stood up. "Jeez, you have the hair of a girl."

 

"Shut up...and thanks." He got up to his feet, while Ling was trying to hold back his snickers. " _He's right you know, I-...You-..whatever, we both have pretty long hair."_

 

"Can you just go one day without yapping your mouth?" Heinkel and Darius looked at him like he was crazy. "...I'm starting to think that what happened last night caused him to have some brain damage." Heinkel whispered. "Yeah, but isn't he a Homunculus? Can't they regenerate?"

 

"No, you dumbass. I mean he's got mental stuff going on. You know, messed up in the head? But you'd think that since he's a Homunculus, he'd be more..." He was trying to find the right words to go along with it. "Thicker skinned?" Darius finished his sentence. "Yeah, that's it." Heinkel nodded. "Thicker skinned."

 

"I can hear you..." Greed gave them an icy glare. "So how about you shut your mouths?" 

 

"Yeah, sorry boss."

 

"..." Out of nowhere, a small memory flashed in his mind, of Dolchetto, who was one of his gang members back at the Devil's Nest, saying the same phrase.  _"Yeah, sorry boss."_ Greed spaced out for a moment, it almost felt like the dog chimera was still there in the flesh. Wearing his loyalty on his sleeve, but then reality hit him like a speeding truck. He was gone.

 

* * *

 

_"Hey boss! Where ya going?" Dolchetto called after the tall man, who was about to walk out of the bar known as the Devil's Nest. To Greed's gang, it was like home to them. Plenty of drinks to go around, women, a secret hideout underground, and much more. Greed decided that instead of sending someone to go get the meat for the chimera's, he'd go and do it himself. He was independent, but only if he was alone._

 

_"I'm gonna get you all some lunch, you and Martel are meat-eating machines, I swear." He stood in his laid back position, which would cause back problems for humans. "Goodbye, I'll be back-"He started to walk off._

 

_"Wait!" Dolchetto called again. "Huh?" He stopped and turned towards him. "What now?" He raised a brow._

 

_"Say that again!" He seemed to be upset._

 

_"...I'll be back?"_

 

_"No, before that!"_

 

_"...Goodbye-" He walked up to Greed and green eyes met purple. "Boss, not trying to define you or anything. But don't you EVER say that again!" Greed was slightly stunned, was his own possession, trying to tell him what to do? He was going to get mad, and even threaten to kick him out of the gang. But this was Dolchetto, the one who always followed his orders no matter what._

 

_"...Why not?"_

 

_"Because...don't ever say goodbye. If you say goodbye, they're gone. If you don't, it's like they never left. They're just, not there at the moment. I know, it sounds stupid. But I-"_

 

_"Alright, alright. Quit your blabbering, I get it. I don't really believe in that type of stuff." He slipped his hands in his leather pockets._

 

_"But I'll keep it in mind."_

 

* * *

The words 'Don't ever say goodbye' resonated. He looked down at the ground, and mumbled. "Yeah, you're just not here right now." He found comfort in that, but it was a bitter type of comfort, not the one that would make you feel better. The type that would make you not think about it. In short, the type that would lie to you.

 

"Alright," Greed's demeanor changed back into his cocky and arrogant self. "Let's hit the road, crew. It's gonna take about, what, 2 more days to get where your lady is?" He turned to Ed, who's face was red from either anger or embarrassment. He guessed probably both. "I-It's not like that! She's a childhood friend of mine, and she's an automail expert." He held up his metal arm. "If we're fighting yourdad, I'm gonna need to tweak up my arm. Winry can fix that."

 

"Ah, so her name's Winry? Heh, haven't met a Winry before, she sounds like a real interesting gal..." Greed's smirk was very suggestive. "HEY IF YOU TRY ANYTHING WITH HER-"

 

"Nah, I ain't got time for women. At least not right now." He turned to the dirt road. "Now let's go, we've got everything, right?"

 

"Yep." Darius handed him a sandwich. "Got some time to make one." Greed looked at the sandwich, he liked human food, and even though Homunculi could live without food, it makes them weaker. Say if Greed didn't eat for a whole week, he would have episodes of dizziness, and his Ultimate Shield would take longer to come over his body and other things. It seemed like forever as he was staring at it. "Well, do ya want one or not?" Greed shook his head.

 

"No...I'm not hungry." He sighed and averted his eyes away from it. "Fine." Darius shrugged. "More for us." Greed started to walk ahead.

 

" _..."_ He could feel the look of suspicion Ling was giving him. "...What."

 

" _I thought you said you don't tell lies?"_

 

"I wasn't lying, I was just refused something that I didn't want." If he showed how he was internally reacting, he would have been stuttering in that sentence. " _Greed. You were hungry. And yet you said that you weren't. Do you know what we humans call that? Lying."_

 

 "Are you saying that I should become that fat bastard, Gluttony?"

 

_"Stop changing the subject, Greed."_ Ling was actually scolding him, like a parent would when their child was doing something bad. "Don't tell me what to do." He felt his stomach make a sound of hunger, but he ignored it. He hadn't eaten since Ling took over and ate all of the leftovers that they had, that was 4 days ago. They stopped off at a neighboring town to get food so they were good with that.

 

The prince had many ideas why Greed wasn't eating. He could've been just not in the mood, or he didn't want to seem like he was human, or the worst case scenario...

 

There's no way he could actually be starving himself.

 

"Hey Greed! Slow down, would ya?!" Ed called after him, who was trying to catch up to him with Heinkel and Darius following behind. Greed made eye contact with him and smirked a little. "No can do! This is what you get for not coming with me."

 

_"So anyway, you were lying and-"_

 

"Tell me, what's it like in Xing?" He cut him off.  _"...Greed, I told you not to change the-"_

 

"I mean, I ain't familiar with this Asian stuff. So if I'm gonna own the world, I might as well get to know it. So what's it like?"

 

_"...It's fine. Just fine."_

 

 

 


	3. Bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I just wanna thank all the people who commented and the people who read this. You keep this story going because I am the queen of procrastinating DX But anyway, thank you all for reading and supporting! :3

“..Huh?”

 

Greed was standing in the field of grass, again. It was the same as before, the gentle breeze blowing against him, the cloudless blue sky, no trees, it was exactly the same.“No...why am I…?” He backed up a little bit, but stopped. He could’ve swore he stepped on something, something soft but hard at the same time, and the material felt like fabric. He turned around, he felt like a truck of terror hit him. The blood was all over him, and his insides were out of his body. The smell of decay surrounded it.

 

And all Greed could do was stare into Dolchetto’s lifeless eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

“?!” Greed’s eye lids flew open, his chest rising and deflating over and over again. He focused his eyes on the pale blonde above him. “Looks like someone’s awake.” Heinkel said. Greed finally realized that Heinkel was actually _carrying_ him.

 

Bridal style.

 

“Put me down!!” Greed yelled. “Alright! Jeez…” Heinkel set him down on his feet. “You seemed like you were having a bad dream there.”

 

“I’m fine, what happened?”

 

“I’ll tell you what happened.” Ed turned to him. “Everything was fine until you passed out on the ground. You’re lucky Heinkel was nice to carry you…we were literally fighting over who should carry you.” Greed saw that it was about in the afternoon, and they were approaching a small town. “You didn’t have to carry me like that.”

 

“But if I carried you on my shoulders, the blood would run up to your head. You’d be a tomato.”

 

“I’m a Homunculus.” He crossed his arms. “Sorry for caring about your well being, I won’t do it again.”

 

“It’s not-...” He gave up and started walking silently. _“He was right, that was some dream. He was one of your gang members, wasn't he?”_

 

"..."

 

_"Greed, if you want to talk about it-"_

 

“No. Shut up.”

 

_“Greed, you need to stop-”_

 

“You guys wanna stop here?” Ling was more frustrated than before. “Yeah.” They entered the small village, the kind that would give tourists on travel hospitality. Few people were outside, mostly civilians. "Hey, we're gonna see if there's anyone who knows how to get to the train station. You wanna come?"

 

"Nah." Greed looked around the town which seemed deserted to him, his eyes caught sight on a small building. With clues from the bottles that he saw in the window, he guessed that it was a local bar. A faint memory of the Devil's Nest came to him, he would've said it in a different way, but that place was practically his home. "I'm just gonna hang out over here." He said, not turning his eyes away from the bar. "Alright, see you in ten. Don't do anything that will make us more wanted." Ed and the the two chimeras walked off to who knows where.

 

Out of curiosity, Greed opened one of the single wooden bar door, it sightly creaked as it opened. The place was old fashioned, and the bottles of liquor were lined up on the shelves, all different kinds. Vodka, rum, tequila, different kinds of ale, and...sitting at the right, a bottle of pure whiskey sat, seeming untouched. He looked around, no one was there. No bartender, or stereotypical old drunk guy. The whiskey seemed to be calling his name, and so was Ling.

 

_"Greed, don't you dare-"_

 

"Shut up, piss ant."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Okay," Ed walked towards the spot that Greed was. "If we keep heading east, we should be at the train station in-..." He looked around, Greed was nowhere to be seen. "...Hey Donkey Kong!"

 

"It's Darius!"

 

"Oh whatever, have you seen Ling? He must've went off somewhere." Darius shrugged. "Greed?!" He called out, only to be greeted with silence. "Heinkel, you mind looking for him?"

 

"If I must..." He pushed up his glasses and walked the opposite direction. "...I've got his scent." He had the smell of musky cinnamon and ash, and followed the invisible trail. It led into a bar and as soon as he walked in, he knew what had happened. "Guys! We've gotta problem!"

 

"What?!" Ed and Darius immediately went to Heinkel's side. "Greed..he's-"

 

"He's what?"

 

"...He's drunk."

 

"WHAT?!" Ed barged into the bar and stomped towards him, who was sitting at the bar table, his upper body gaining support from the table. "Ling-I mean, Greed?" Ed walked to his side.

 

“...” His cheeks were red, and his breathing was heavy. “I-I’m done heeerrre….” He slurred. He Just a little shot of whiskey could get you drunk. He pushed himself off the seat and as soon as his feet hit the floor, he dropped to the ground. "And there he goes." Heinkel put his left arm around his own shoulder and Darius did the same with his right, and they both dragged him out of the bar.

 

“Did we just seriously let Greed get drunk?"

 

"Yep." 

 

"It's..your HIGHNESS t-to you...I own this god damn circle..grassy thing and I am your k-king..!" His eyes were half lidded. "...Circle grassy thing?" Darius tilted his head. Heinkel turned to him and didn't even bat an eye. "He means the world." He said. "Oh." Greed suddenly passed out, but not even for 3 seconds as he got back up just as Heinkel was about to pick him up again, looking like a familiar squinty-eyed person. "Woah, I haven't had alcohol in while..." Ed recognized his voice which was different from Greed's. "Ling? That you?"

 

"Yeah...wow, he drunk a lot." He felt a little dizzy. "He finally dropped his guard. Hey guys, get me to that tree over there." The chimera's slowly lowered him down next to a tree with a root sticking out of the ground. "Thanks. I just really needed a break."

 

"What did he do now?" Ed guessed that Greed was giving Ling a hard time. "...We just aren't really getting along right now. You'd think our last fight would've smacked some sense into him."

 

"I don't mean to go on his side, but it's not like we can do anything. Let's be clear, he's a Homunculus. Yeah, he's not on the Homunculi's side. But he's still one of them. He's not human, he never was in the first place. And there's nothing we can really do about that, that's just how he is." Ling's lips formed into a smirk. "Wow, I didn't know you were preacher type."

 

"I'M JUST SAYING WHAT I THINK! ...But you get the point, right?"

 

"Yeah. I understand what you mean. But I can tell that he's always been different from them. They're like loyal dogs to their creator, but he's not. He told me that he rebelled about 100 years ago, I wonder why..."

 

"I'll tell ya why." Greed abruptly gained control again, his speech wasn't slurred, but it sounded more exhausted. "Like I've said many times, I'm Greed the Avaricious. Me and my old man simply had different goals, or more like, we were fighting for the same thing. He wanted to make this place a wasteland, oh who am I kidding, he wants to kill you all. But fortunately for you, I only want the world for myself. Sure, maybe a few thousand people will become my slaves but it's better than having-"

 

_"Greed..."_ Ling stopped him. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and continued. "Anyway, he made me this way. It's not my fault that I'm greedy, that's just how I was made. We want the same thing but for different purposes. Ya get it now?"

 

"Well...I gotta admit." Darius wanted to protest against Greed's reason, but he knew that if he was in his shoes, he would have done the same thing. "That does seem like a good reason to rebel, besides the 'slaves' thing." He had a picture in his mind of being a slave to... _him_. "Oh and by the way," Ed leaned close to Greed with a deadly glare on his face. "IF your whole little 'own the world' thing goes right, and you end up ruling the world like you want to, don't you even THINK about dragging me or my family into it." 

 

"Relax, not making any promises." He stood up, relying on the tree for a little support. "But I'll keep your warning in mind." Though he wasn't the best at tolerating his alcohol, he doesn't stay drunk for long and he has never had a hangover in his 200 years and over of living. "Where are we going again?"

 

"East, we'll just keep going until we hit the train station. Smooth sailing from there. And next time we stop at a town, someone is going to stay with him. Because now we know that we can  _obviously_ not trust Greed when he's near a bar!" Ed glared at him again. "Yeah, yeah..."

 

_"Hey Greed."_ Greed's expression went from calm to annoyed. "What."

 

_"I've always been curious about something."_

 

"Well then get on with it, your voice makes me wanna spill up my lunch."

 

_"I think the real question is,_ _what lunch?"_ He said, assertively. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" 

 

_" I think I'm making myself pretty crystal clear. You haven't eaten anything in over six days, Greed! But listen to me, for once...I've always wondered, why the world? Why do you want the world itself? If you want money and women, why don't you just come back to Xing with me? Instead of ruling the world, being the king of Xing is more than enough."_

 

"...So let me get this straight. When this is all over, you want me, to come back to Xing with you?" Ling rolled his eyes, if he was standing in front of him, he would have put his index finger on his chest.  _"Yes. I want you. Yes, you Greed. To come back to Xing, with me. So we can become emperor."_ Ling swore that he saw a glint in Greed's eyes or happiness, something that he had been waiting to see for a long time.

 

_  
_ _"Together."_

 

"..."

 

_"Well?"_

 

"...Sorry kid." The hope that Greed would say yes was shattered. "But I let my avarice decide for me, and it has decided one thing for me..." Ling sighed in defeat, at least he could say that he tried to talk some sense into him. Greed looked at Ling, with determination and stubbornness.

 

 

 

 

"I'll have the world, or I'll have death!"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol now you know what Greed smells like
> 
> Woah, I just realized just how gay this chapter was.


	4. Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg so I'm not sure if this canon but I hope it is, but Fun Fact of the day:
> 
> Greed was exactly born/created on April 7th, 1712.

Greed's footstep's got heavier the more he walked beside Heinkel, and his ability to keep his eyes open was getting weaker. It seemed like each step he took, the more tired he was feeling. The lion chimera glanced at Greed, and felt guilty just watching the guy practically suffer. He wasn't dumb, he had already figured it out. He knew that he hadn't eaten in almost a week, and he knew that he had been having nightmares, it wasn't a big secret to him. He pitied the homunculus, he truly did.

 

He was annoyed by how he would boast about ruling the world. When all of them knew that it was probably not going to happen, and he thought that it was stupid that Greed couldn't just accept that he had a slim chance of owning the world. But one thing's for certain, Greed was one stubborn, rock-headed person. Possibly  _the_ most stubborn and rock-headed he had ever met, so the idea of giving up on a dream that wouldn't come true was out of the question. Aside from that, Heinkel feared about what would happen to him if his situation got worse. He's one of those people where if you wonder what they would do if they are put in a certain situation, you could never really figure out what they would do, he's simply unpredictable. 

 

"Let's call it a day and set up camp here." Darius nodded and Ed started to unpack the tents, Heinkel went into the woods to get some fire wood, leaving Greed nothing to do. Which he had no problem with. Ed had already set up one tent, which was his own. He glanced up at Greed, who was leaning against a tree with his hands in his trench coat pockets. He was irritated that he was just standing there, not bothering to help.

 

"You know, I could use a little help with the tents." Greed rolled his eyes. "Do it yourself, I'm fine where I am."

 

"I didn't ask you if you had a problem with helping me, I didn't even ask a question at all. I said that I could use a little help."

 

"Well then I'll say it again, do it yourself." He glared at him with his wine-like colored eyes. Ed was frankly just about done with him. He never helped with anything, he'd always take everything they'd do for him for granted and it made him want to scream at him. But instead of letting his short temper getting the best of him, he sighed and continued to set up the tents.

 

Shortly after, Heinkel came back with a bunch of firewood, and set some of them down in a pile, and placed the others a little ways from it. As Darius started the fire, Heinkel used his spare time to help Ed. "Thanks, at least _someone's_ willing to help me out." He looked at Greed, who shrugged it off. They finished setting up the tents and sat down around the fire.

 

Greed let out a yawn and knew that if he didn't move now, he'd probably fall asleep.  "I'm goin' to bed." He trudged over to the tent and crawled into the tent, he took off his shoes and his trench coat. It was the end of winter, but it was still cold outside. He reached behind his head and pulled off the white piece of ribbon that held his hair up in a ponytail, and let his, technically Ling's long hair, fall down on his shoulders.

 

He wished he didn't have long hair, it was one of the things that he didn't like about his body and would gladly try to cut it off himself. But for Ling's sake, he kept it, just do that way he didn't complain about it.

 

He fell back on the small pillow and pulled the light blanket up to his torso and turned onto his side, if there was one thing he hated, besides his whole family...

 

Was silence.

 

The quiet legitimately  _scared_ him. Maybe because it screamed the truth. He would never say it out loud, but he was mentally pleading for Ling to give him one of those stupid talks that he had always hated, showing what he called 'sympathy' or 'trying to help'. When Greed believed that there was nothing to help, because to him, he was  _just_ fine. 

 

_Just. Fine._

* * *

 

 

"...Ugh..." He squinted at the light that flashed on him, he felt the thing that he was laying on rattle beneath him, and the ceiling seemed to be moving. Wait, no. It wasn't the ceiling, it was himself that was moving. His hand felt the metal that he was laying on, probably some type of stretcher that doctors would put their patients on. He turned his head to the side, a man with a doctor's mask on and white scrubs on was pushing him. 

 

There was also another doctor on the other side, but his mask was off. Greed had no clue where he was or why he was there.

 

"Hey...what's..." He couldn't seem to get much words out, his mind felt hazy, and slightly blurry. 

 

"Experiment #74 has regained consciousness." The man to his left spoke in a robot-like voice. The other one had something in his hand, it looked like a rag. "What's going on...where.." He felt the rag being forced down onto his lips and tied around his head, he had no choice but to bite down on it. Before he tried anything, he had to figure out where he was. His eyes shifted from side to side as he tried to guess where he was.

 

There was cages, he could hear sobbing as he passed by them, also frequent screams in the distance. Something in his gut was tell him that he had been there before, but when? Why? 

 

Wait...Cages? Experiment #74? It all was coming together.

 

Laboratory 5. 

 

Where he had saved his old gang, this was the place. Now that he knew where he was, he just had to get out. When he tried to sit up, his arms were fastened down by a leather belt, and he couldn't feel his legs. Usually, he could harden his skin and cut the belt, but he had lost the ability to do that. They brought him under a bright light, which he squinted at. 

 

"Check her vitals." Her? The last time Greed checked, he was of the male gender. Or maybe his long hair fooled them. "Is animal #68 ready for the transmutation?" His eyes flew open and he started to lazily struggle, he felt lightheaded so he couldn't do very much, and they continued to move around too fast for him to comprehend. "Yes."

 

"She's lost forty percent of her blood, should we bandage the wound?" What wound??

 

It took a lot of courage for him to look down, and he somehow gathered up that much. What was his legs was no more, they were completely gone just under his hips, and he was still slightly bleeding out. He didn't even notice the pain that was making every nerve on alert. The gag that was on his mouth slipped off and fell onto his neck.

 

"Cause of injury?"

 

"Stepped on a land mine." He started to get a flashback of someone explaining something to him, but he forgot who it was and what they were talking about, but he remembered the word 'land mine'. But who was he talking to? Who was it?

 

"Animal?"

 

"Serpentes." What kind of animal was that? He felt hands on his back and close to his injury pick him up and set him down on the cold cement floor. Another doctor was carrying a small cage with thin bars. He set it down on the table that Greed was previously laying in and took out whatever was in there. The doctor bent down towards him and put something long and slightly heavy on his stomach. It moved up towards his chest, to where Greed could see it clearly.

 

The scientific name for a snake, is Serpentes.

 

And he had one thing on his mind: Martel.

 

_"I stepped on a land mine, blew me in half, I had no legs from the waist down. So they took me in as an experiment and transmuted me with a snake, giving me a new body. That's what happened to me, anyway."_

 

It was all making sense to him, that's why they said that he was a she, that's why he's in Laboratory 5, that's why...

 

A jet black snake was rising it's head above him, with eyes colder than ice itself. The longer he continued to stare at it, the more he was intimidated. "No..." He mumbled. "Let me..go..."

 

"Start the transmutation."

 

"Let me go...!" His eyes were filled to the brim with terror, yet he didn't know why. It seemed like the snake was staring into his soul, looking into every feeling and emotion that he has ever experienced and wished that he didn't feel them, every time he had ever came face to face with the truth that he would not admit to. And no matter how much he screamed, struggled, even cried if he could, the snake made everything seem hopeless.

 

"Let me go! Let me go, let me go, LET ME GO!" He snarled. "LET ME GO GOD DAMN IT!" The doctors completely ignored him.

 

"LET ME GO!"

 

* * *

 

"LET ME GO!"  Greed clenched the covers, Ed was next to him, yelling at him to wake up. "Greed, wake up already!" His eyes flew wide open and he took in a deep gasp. He could hardly breathe and his head was drenched with sweat. _"Greed, you need to calm down!"_

 

"He's hyperventilating!" He was breathing rapidly, and he was exhaling more than he was inhaling. _"Hey! Greed, I need you to listen to me! Take in deep breaths."_ He tried to slow down his breathing so that way he wouldn't pass out from lack of oxygen, as time when on, he was starting to able to breathe again and he wasn't as light headed as before. He let himself fall back down out of tiredness.

 

"Alright. Give it up, Greed." Ed said. "What the hell is going on?"

 

"It's nothin'..." He mumbled softly. "Nothing..?" Ed tilted his head. "NOTHING?! How is getting your ass drunk, screaming in the middle of the night, nothing?! Tell me, what's going on?! There's no where you can go!"

 

"And just what makes you say-..." He glanced at the two chimeras who were blocking the entrance of the tent. He grimaced in defeat, as there was no where to go. He didn't want to tell them because he thought that there was nothing going on, when it was very clear that he wasn't the same Greed as before (no pun intended). 

 

"...What if I don't want to?"

 

"Then I'll make you." He said confidently. "Ha! Oh please, I'd like to see you try!" Greed put on a fake smirk, showing teeth. But Ed had the same one on. "Ling!" He felt a rush of mental instability wrack his brain, the prince was trying to take over. He gripped his own head and groaned loudly. "Damn it, Ling!" He snarled, Ed knew that Greed wouldn't have the time to keep his guard up as he was dealing the aftermath of the nightmare. Ultimately, in this situation, Ling's soul was stronger than his. And he felt himself slip into unconsciousness. "Ling?"

 

"Yeah, I'm here." Ling wiped the sweat off of of his forehead. "Alright, spill the beans." Ed got in a criss-cross position.  _"Ling, don't you dare-"_

 

"Recently, he's been having nightmares. And he hasn't ate for almost a week." 

 

 _"WHAT THE HELL, LING?!"_ Ed's expression softened, now he knew just what he was going through. "The nightmares are understandable, but why hasn't he been eating?"

 

"That, I don't know. But I must warn you, if you haven't noticed, Greed's not the 'sit down and talk about it' kind of guy. So expect some outbursts of anger, and stuff like that." He explained. "Are you his therapist or something?"

 

"Hardly." Ling chuckled. "There's still some things I don't know about him, or what's going on. But if I'm gonna be Emperor of Xing, I'd rather not have a moody Greed. You get the idea."

 

"Right." That was something he could not argue with. "Well I'm going back to sleep. I'm guessing it's the same for you guys." Darius nodded. "Yeah, see you in the morning." He pivoted and walked back into his tent, followed by Heinkel who went into his. "Hey, Ling?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"I cannot believe I'm saying this...but tell Greed that if he wants to talk, I'm here." He was slightly surprised that Ed would give his time to listen to what Greed had to say, considered that they weren't really on friendly terms with each other. But nonetheless, he smiled softly. "I'll tell him."

 

"Good, 'night." He got to his knees and moved out of the tent. Ling sighed and pulled the covers over him, he could feel Greed's trembling anger in his mind. And with bitterness dripping from his voice:

 

 

_"I..hate you.."_

 

 

 

 


	5. Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh when your teacher catches you making flower crown edits of GreedLing-

The morning rays of sunlight were dim, but were enough to shine on Homunculi's face. Other than that, what woke him up was the smell of something savory. Though he didn't want to eat, his hunger was luring him towards the scent. His eyes met with the dark green color of the tent, and used his hands to push himself up into a sitting position. He didn't know why he was refusing to eat, not only does he have a 'pit of emptiness', but he  _literally_ has a pit of emptiness. And he couldn't bring himself to fill it. It was funny how Greed thought that the only thing that could quench his desire was the world, so he's doing everything in his power to do so. Yet when it comes to food, he refuses to do anything.

 

This was the first time he ever had this problem, the longest he had ever gone without eating was 3 days, but now he had a new record. That wasn't really something he preferred to be proud of. His hair was messed up and the other part of his bangs were down, which bothered him because they were in the way. The lone side bang was enough. He got on his knees and crawled out of the small tent. Heinkel was keeping watch on the eggs and bacon that were being hanged above the fire, while Darius was sitting in front of his tent. Ed was looking up at the sky with few clouds until he noticed Greed.

 

"'Morning Greed." Ed said, almost a little too kindly. The last thing he wanted to talk about was what happened last night, he would have been embarrassed but he was too busy trying to physically breathe. And him and Ling weren't exchanging words, so far. "Breakfast isn't quite ready, so maybe about 5 minutes or more." 

 

"Right..." He slowly nodded his head. He pivoted and walked behind a tree, he could see why Ed was looking at the sky. He had to admit, it was nice with the nippy air. Winter was one of his favorite seasons, but in his opinion, it was the best just before spring. It was cold in the morning and just the right temperature of warmth in the afternoon. It was one of the rare simple things that he liked and would not settle for more.

 

"I'm not taking back what I said." Greed heard two familiar voices, he poked half of his head out from the tree to hear Darius and Heinkel talking. "I'm not saying you should take it back."

 

"But you said it yourself, something's wrong with him." Darius crossed his arms. "When I say that's there's something wrong with him, I mean that there is something _seriously_ wrong with him. Got some mental problems." He put his finger to his head and circled it around. "So you think he's crazy?"

 

"Of course that's what I'm saying, whatever happened to him must've messed him up in the head!" Greed would've gone over there and tell Darius off, he would've. He gripped a part of his long coat and got into deep thought, his words seemed to echo in his mind. As they did so, the more he started to wonder.

 

Was there  _really_ something wrong with him? "Hey Ling..." He mumbled quietly, just loud enough for Ling to hear. _"Yes?"_

 

"You-..." He found it hard to get the words out, but why? It should be a simple topic that should be simple to talk about. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. "Can I ask you something?"

 

 _"Ask away."_ He bit his lip in slight nervousness, and took in a deep breath. "...Do you think I'm crazy?" It was silent, and like before, Greed hated silence. "I'm gonna ask again..." He said, with a little more emotion in his voice. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

 

_"..."_

 

"...I mean...I ain't crazy, am I? There isn't anything wrong with me.." He mumbled to himself. _"I think the real question is, why are you asking?"_ Ling was slightly surprised, he did hear the conversation, but he didn't know that he would ask out loud that if there was something actually wrong with him. "Does it matter?"

 

_"Yes, it does."_

 

"Oh forget about that!" He snapped back. "You didn't answer my question! Tell me now! Do you think I'm crazy?!" He felt like punching him in the face or the gut, but he knew it would do little to nothing. _"Why are you asking?? What, don't tell me you actually believe hi-"_

 

"I never said that!" He lashed out at him. "For God sake, Ling! Answer the goddamn question!"

 

 _"No!"_ He yelled at him.  _"I don't think your crazy! Are you happy now?!"_ Greed gritted his teeth, before he could say anything, Ed surprised him with a plate of deliciously smelling scrambled eggs and bacon. "Breakfast is ready." He held out the plate to him, he unwillingly took it.

 

"You need something to fill you, something that's not booze." Ed joked a little, but Greed had a face that spoke 'Shut up, it's not funny'. "But seriously, eat up while you can." He nodded and watched Ed walk away to get some breakfast of his own. So he took the time to stand up and get a little farther from them, he felt better being alone. He plopped down next to a shrub and stared down at the food.

 

"...It's just eggs and bacon..." He said to himself. He cautiously picked up the fork, but he halted when he noticed that his hand was trembling. "One bite won't hurt..."

 

* * *

 

_Martel watched Greed, who was using his sense of smell as his eyes, though she didn't know that. She had no clue what the Homunculus was doing. "Greed?"_

 

_"What is it, Martel?" He asked, still sniffing around. "Mind telling me what you're doing?" She tilted her head slightly._

 

_"I'm trying to figure out where that smell is coming from!" He was walking around, he usually didn't do this, but the smell was nagging at him. Not in a bad way, it actually smelled good. He couldn't really describe it. And if he couldn't describe it, chances are he didn't know what it was, and he hated not knowing things. "What smell?"_

 

_"That smell! Don't tell me you can't smell it!"_

 

_"Oh! I know what you're talking about!" She felt a little stupid, he wasn't just him, there was a smell. "Did you know that Roa can cook?"_

 

_"...Cook? Where?" He asked. A flash of the broken stove in the other room came to his mind, Roa seemed to be interested in it. Greed didn't know why and he didn't care either, but now he was starting to get curious. Running footsteps was heard from the dark hallway as a small figure popped up._

 

_"Mr. Greed!" Bido exclaimed, smiling. "Breakfast is ready!" Martel hooked her thumbs in the belt holes of her pants and turned to Greed. "You comin', or what?"_

 

 _Martel was that one girl where you weren't attracted to her, but you like having her around. Only sometimes he flirted with her, other than that, they were just really good...companions. "What's all of this ruckus about-" Greed entered the opening and completely stopped. The whole entire gang was sitting around Roa, who was serving them a breakfast of all kinds. Eggs, bacon, stacks of pancakes, sausage links, Greed would call it,'The whole Sha-bang'._ " _What_ _the hell is all of this?"_

 

_"I decided to fix up the broken stove, it's been sitting there for ages. And I also decided to see if my cooking skills have gotten rusty." He knew that even with his tall and tough look, Roa was into...'creative' things. But what he didn't know, was that he could cook. Roa set a plate down in front of him, he didn't mind eating human food, but he usually didn't eat breakfast. He ate whenever he wanted to eat, there was no lunch, snack, or dinner._

 

_Dolchetto didn't hesitate to grab the piece of bacon and take a bite out of it. His lips formed into a happy smile almost instantly. "Woah, guys, Roa can cook!" Everyone except Greed followed in his footsteps, and they were not disappointed. "Okay, these pancakes are better than my grandma's were!"_

 

**_STATIC_ **

 

_"Where's syrup when you need it?" Ulchi, the crocodile chimera, was looking around. Bido had found the bottle of syrup and waved it up high. "It's over here!"_

 

_"Thanks!"_

 

_"Mr. Greed, why don't you try some?"  Bido glanced at Greed, who was skeptic about the food that was sat in front of him. "I dunno..."  
_

 

_"Oh come on, try it!" Dolchetto encouraged him. "It'll be worth it!" He looked at his plate again. Maybe just one bite wouldn't hurt...In defeat, he jabbed the fork into one of the pancakes, ripping off a piece of it and immediately put it in his mouth. And just so he hadn't been clear enough, he never told lies. He had an unreadable expression. Until he slammed his clenched fist on the table._

 

_"Syrup! Stat!"_

 

**_STATIC_ **

 

_"Yes sir!" Ulchi tossed him the syrup bottle, and proceeded to literally drown his pancakes in syrup. **STATIC**_

 

_Everyone was laughing, talking about how good of a cook Roa was, they were all having a good time._

 

_He was having a good time._

 

* * *

 

 

When he came to his senses, he realized that the plate wasn't even in his hand. His breathing was erratic again, and his whole body was trembling slightly. Not as bad as he was when he killed 'him'. When he focused his eyes, the plate was two or three yards away from him, turned over. The eggs and bacon were scattered across the ground, attracting bugs and other things which he could've cared less about.

 

He had thrown the plate.

 

 _"Greed!"_ Ling called out. He shook his head vigorously and clenched his fists. "I-...I can't..." There was not much else he could spit out. 

 

_"Greed, you-"_

 

"I said I CAN'T!" He blurted out. His arms were folded and his sweaty palms gripped the fabric of his long coat, like if someone was cold or uncomfortable. It was the only thing that was comforting him, at the moment. He sat there, having nothing to say. Ling was pitying him more than ever, and he wished that he could help, in anyway possible. But Greed just would not let him pass that giant wall that's blocking him from talking to him. That wall was labeled 'Avarice'.

 

 _"...Alright...stand up, let's get with the others."_ Not disagreeing with him, he arose to his feet, but he felt like he was going to fall back down. Nonetheless, he slowly trudged back to the campsite, where Darius and Heinkel had everything packed. "Hey, Greed. Ready to go?" Ed asked.

 

"...Yeah," He straightened up. "Let's hit the road." 

 

"Oh, by the way, did ya eat?" 

 

"..." Greed never told lies, so when someone asked him something and he didn't want to tell the truth, he didn't say anything at all. He would go silent.

 

 

And he  _hates_ silence.

 


	6. Ticket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I THINK I fixed the glitch.
> 
> I THINK.

"Got them." Ling walked back to the group with 4 tickets in his hand, he had a tendency to do sly things, so why not put it into good use? Though he argued with Greed to let him take control, it was worth fighting for. He wasn't talking much, or making his snarky remarks like he used to.

 

He kinda missed the old Greed.

 

Ling handed them the tickets randomly, which he pick pocketed from other people. They all looked at their tickets, and Ed smiled a little. "According to this ticket, my name is James Mergel."

 

"Konnor Willis." Heinkel blinked a little and pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "Not bad..." 

 

"Kane Jakobs." Darius read out loud. Greed decided that he wanted control again, but he didn't have to ask. Ling simply let him, he had no problems with it. He took one look at his ticket. "Dakota..." He said, in a monotone like voice.  _"You know, Greed...I believe I got a ticket from a girl. Do you know what that means?  Based off of that ticket, you're considered as a girl."_ He snickered a little.

 

"You've gotta be kidding me..." He mumbled.

 

" _I kid you not."_ He smiled, Greed gave him a glare an icy glare in his demon form. If looks could talk, his look would be saying 'I'm going to smack that smile off of your face if you don't shut the hell up'.  _"Oh I'm joking, I'm pretty sure they were all men."_

 

"..." He kept the glare.

 

_"Relax, will ya? Loosen up a bit."_ Greed would've said 'It's kinda hard to do that right now.', but he said nothing, and dwelled on the thought. Could he loosen up?  He knew that he wasn't himself for the past few weeks, and it was hell itself for him.  He'd have to force himself awake because he didn't want to have another 'dream'. Thoughts swarmed in his mind, the 'what if's' and the 'maybe's'. Things that he never thought he would think about.

 

"Hey, Greed. You wanna sit by the window?" 

 

"...Huh?" He snapped out of his trance, he spaced out so long that they were already on the train, which he thought was kind of unbelievable. "What?"

 

"I said, you wanna sit by the window?" Ed repeated. "Yeah, uh, sure." He awkwardly plopped down on the seat, and rested his head on the glass window. As time went by, he noticed that the train started to move. He had never been on a train before, at least, not that he remembered. Through everything, he hadn't lost sight of who he was, he was Greed the Avaricious. And he wanted the world itself, and if not the world,  _more._ Another thought came to his mind, Bradley.

 

He hated the bastard, simple as that. And it wasn't just because of what he did, it was because he lied to him. He hated it when people lied to him, so he never lied to others. But he wondered, how did he get in such a high position?

 

What was it like?

 

* * *

 

  _"I'm gonna admit, I'm jealous..." Greed and other Amestrian military guards were surrounding a man, who was holding a picture of a woman. They were all admiring the girl in the photo, even Greed thought she was beautiful herself. Though he was the odd man out, most of them, surprisingly, did not care at all. "That's your woman?"_

 

_"Yep, met her last summer. Ain't she a beauty?" The man looked the photograph. "She was with some friends of hers."_

 

_"Oh really?" Greed looked at him. "Could you get me a friend, if you know what I mean?" He winked at all of them. "Well damn, I didn't know you liked guys!" Everyone was snickering in the background._

 

_"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" He was completely dumbfounded. "She was with guys, man!"_

 

_"Well how was I supposed to know that? You said she was out with some friends, so I thought they were girls!"_

 

_"Uh-huh, sure..." He kept giggling to himself, Greed didn't like to be made fun of. But he didn't feel like he was being made fun of at all, he didn't know any of these men, but they were pretty fun to hang out with. "But I remember about 2 years ago, there was this girl in-"_

 

_"Men." A way too recognizable voice completely made them still. The group snapped their to the older man, also known as, Fuher King Bradley. They all panicked, Greed just stood there, wondering what he was doing. The soldiers scrambled and stood at attention. "Yes, sir!" Bradley sent them a sharp glare through his lone eye, but it soon softened._

 

_"Please do not dilly dally, I get that you are men with preferences. But your personal life and your duties are two different situations, so please try to keep them at that."_

 

_"Y-Yes, sir!" They all scattered around and went back to their posts. While Greed was left standing there, a little mad. He was actually having a good time, until Bradley had to barge in, that's how he saw it. "Greed, I need to talk to you in my office." He pivoted and walked to his office. The quick glare that Bradley gave the soldier would have been nothing compared to what he was giving him. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed him. When he entered, he could feel the tension in the air._

 

_"Greed, I want to make something clear to you. You do know that you are a Homunculus, an artificially created human?" He could kind of see where this was going. "Of course I know that."_

 

_"And you do know that you, we, are the enemy?"_

 

_"Haven't forgotten that."_

 

_"Well then let me give you a quick reminder..." He approached the slightly smaller one. "Or more like, a warning. Do not make any connections or any relationships with humans. Do you want to know why?"_

 

_"..."_

 

_"I'm sorry to say it, but after the Promised Day, do you know what's going to happen to those men? Those men you were just talking with? They're going to be dead. Nothing more simple than that." His dull green eye seemed to pierce his reddish-pink. "Mark my words, Greed. No matter what connections you make with people, no matter how many 'friends' you have.."_

 

_He walked past him and reached for the handle on the door, but stopped. He turned one last time to him._

 

_"In the end, you will always be alone."_

 

* * *

 

 

"Hey, Mr. Greed!" He snapped out of his trance from a familiar voice.

 

Wait...Mr. Greed? Nobody called him that anymore, but there was one person who did. "Huh-" He almost jumped out of his seat, when his eyes met someone that he thought he would never see again. 

 

"Bido...?"

 

"What?" He was dumbfounded when what was his old gang member suddenly turned back to Ed in not even a second. He could have swore he was right there, sitting next to him. Bido was  _right there._ "...Di-..Did you just say..."

 

"What? I said 'Hey Greed'!" Ed was just as confused as he was, he had never heard of a person named Bido. He knew that he used to have gang members, but he didn't know who they exactly were or what their names were. Maybe this 'Bido' guy was one of them. "But-...I need some fresh air.." 

 

"Alright..." Ed stood up, letting Greed through. He shoved his hands in his pockets like he usually did and walked all the way back until he reached a singular door with a latch on it. He flipped the latch open and was hit with a slight breeze, he rested his arms on the railing that separated him from 'impending death', as some would say. He stared at the train tracks that were constantly moving away from, it seemed like.

 

But the truth was, it was him that was moving.

 

Like it was second nature, he turned around and faced the small metal wall on the right of the door, grabbed his head, and slammed it against the wall.

 

"Shit!" He yelled. "It wasn't him...It wasn't..."

 

_"Of course it wasn't him. I'm surprised you actually admitted that-"_

 

"You're NOT helping!" Greed snarled at Ling, he backed off a little. Greed stepped away and tilted his head towards the sky, the only thing that he could hear was the train on the tracks at high speed. He'd usually slam his head against the wall if he thought of what he was thinking, but he didn't have the stamina to do it. Ever since the Devil's Nest massacre, when he was travelling with Ed and the gang, even Ling...

 

Was Bradley right?  _If_ he wanted to make actual friends with others, even if they did go away eventually...

 

Would it be worth it?

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear up something, Greed was already in Ling's body (no pun intended) when he was with Bradley, remember that one episode where he was sitting on the roof or something? It's from that.
> 
> ((PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THAT GREED IS A BOTTOM-))


	7. Picture

 "What's he doing?!"

 

"Shit, someone's coming!"

 

"Damn! He followed us all the way here?"

 

"He's gonna get himself killed!"

 

"Is he...laughing?"

 

_"Greed...please stop..."_

 

* * *

 

 

Greed jolted up wide awake, his breathing was erratic again, as usual. His 'dreams' were getting more weird each time, and were becoming a pain in his ass. So what if he just stopped sleeping for a little while? Would that do the trick? He looked to his left and saw Ed, who was just standing up. "We're here." Darius and Heinkel were already in line to get off the train, so they moved, that way Ed and Greed could cut through. It only took about one or two minutes to arrive at the train station their selves, and they immediately started to head towards Winry's house.

 

"This the town you grew up in?" Darius asked the shorter one, who was leading the way on the dirt path. "Yep...it's small, but it has good people." Ed let out a yawn and stretched out his arms, Heinkel was right next to Darius and Greed was in the back looking like he was not in the mood, as usual. He occasionally tried to find something to be not-so-under-the-weather with. But he realized that he hadn't lost sight of who he was.

 

Not yet.

 

' _Wait a second, I'm supposed to be leading MY gang!'_ He felt a little pain in his chest as he mentally said 'gang', but he quickly shrugged it off. He put on the same arrogant smirk, which most people would find not very charming, and confidently barged in between Heinkel and Darius. Much to their surprise, they kept quiet. He walked so that he was about three or four inches ahead of Ed, though he wanted to show that he was the leader, he didn't have a clue where this place was.

 

The two chimera's glanced at each other, questioning his sudden boost of happiness. Maybe he was finally out of the dumps, and he was back to normal. Though it seemed like it, they really couldn't tell.

 

There was a house up ahead, he could faintly see a sign that said 'Automail', he remembered that according to Ed, this Winry was an Automail mechanic. So that meant that they had arrived at their destination. It was early in the morning, most of them were a little tired. Greed planned on not sleeping, since he forcefully had to make Ling talk to him in order to keep himself awake, but that failed apparently.

 

"There it is." Ed pointed out. The house was old fashioned, but pretty nice, overall. That's what Ling thought, but Greed would automatically say 'I want more.' Because since his name was Greed, it was never enough. It's ironic why he was against him ruling the world, because ruling the world would not fill the emptiness he possessed. Greed knew too, but like always, was too stubborn to admit it. Ed checked the door, it was locked. So Winry was still in Briggs.

 

Ed said that he would check the back door, and sure enough, it was open. They all entered, Greed still having that boost of confidence, which was totally fake. "I'm hungry..." Ed took out a plate and started to make himself a sandwich.

 

Darius and Heinkel both sat on the couch and started up a conversation, to pass the time. While Greed walked upstairs, he looked at the wooden walls and found a dresser with some pictures on it. There was one with a two young boys and a girl which he assumed it was Ed and Winry, but the other boy, he didn't recognize. Then it came to him, that was Alphonse, that's what he looked like. The three seemed to be happy as can be together, smiling. 

 

_'What if that was me?' ~~~~_

 

"Psst!" He heard a whisper from the stairwell. "Greed! Winry's here! Hide!" Ed motioned him to come over. He would have to continue looking around later.

 

* * *

 

 

Winry was was a beautiful girl in Greed's eyes, but he knew that if he tried to make a move, Ed would get on his ass. So that was out of the question.  When Winry was making lunch for all of them, he started to get nervous. He didn't want to cause Winry or Ed concern, so if he didn't want to eat, there was only one person who could. "Hey, Ling." He whispered.  _"Hm?"_

 

"Could you do me a favor?" He was hoping that Ling would help him out.  _"Depends on what it is."_

 

"Can you switch out with me? But just until lunch is over." He heard a sigh from Ling.  _"Fine..."_ Greed also sighed, in relief. "And...try to act like me, if you can."  Ling already knew why he asked him to switch, besides, Greed has never just 'asked' to switch. It never really worked like that. He let Ling take control, and when he saw that huge chicken leg on the table, he didn't hesitate to grab it and take a huge bite out of it. But he had his eyes open and his sharp teeth showed, and surprisingly, they all fell for it.

 

After lunch, which according to Ling, was absolutely to die for, Greed regained control and began to loiter around. Looking at pictures, small trinkets of the sort. Nothing much, really. They were only here to fix up Ed's Automail, and just hang out for a while. They've been on the run, even Greed was. Since the military were basically now on the Homunculi's side because of Bradley, if they found Greed, they would somehow find him with using underhanded tactics.

 

He entered the guest room, which was kind of old, but would seem comfortable for most people. _"You know, that can be you."_

 

"Huh?"

 

_"You asked yourself if you could be smiling and having fun with friends, and it can be you. You don't think you-"_

 

"Just where the hell did you come up with that?" He cut him off. "How many times do I have to say it, pissant? My name is Greed! And 'having fun'? _Friends?_ You must be shittin' me!" He let out a laugh, which wasn't really convincing. "You really think I'm that soft, don't you? You think I'm that desperate! If anything, _they'll_ be desperate!"

 

_"What about Ed, huh? What about Darius? And Heinkel?"_

 

"...Ahaha! They're nothing more than my possessions! Simple as tha-"

 

"Is that _so?_ " Greed's pride boost completely shattered as a voice interrupted him, he slowly turned around and saw Ed, his arms crossed and he had the most serious and angry face he had ever seen in his entire two century life.  Even more serious than _Bradley's._

 

"You're saying..." He stomped over to him, and gave him a scary glare. "After all that's happened, after all the things we did for you, you STILL consider us as possessions? You know, I didn't have to be nice to you. I didn't have to actually offer my own attention, if you wanted it, which I thought that since your name is Greed, you would 'want' it because you want everything!"

 

"And I never said you had to be nice to you, now did I? And if you didn't hear me, I'll tell you again for the a hundredth time! You, them, everyone, is mine!"

 

"Oh that's _bullshit_!" Ed yelled at him. "Just because you want something, does NOT mean you're gonna get it! I wanted my mom back, and look what happened!" They kept on going back and forth, insult after insult, both trying to convince the other that they were right.

 

"...I'm done with you..." Ed muttered after the heated argument, while Greed clicked his tongue. But he was suddenly and forcefully turned around and shoved to the wall, hitting his head against it, making a big thud sound. Ed grabbed the collar of his black shirt and held him close so that both of their eyes were meeting each other. "Greed, if you keep on going down the path you're taking..."

 

"..."

 

"You will always be alone."

 

The phrase seemed to repeat in his mind, Ed let go of his shirt and backed away. "We're leaving tomorrow." He left with that and shut the door behind him, leaving Greed standing still, his back still leaning on the wall. He had so many words, but they were not getting out, no matter how much he tried. _"Greed..."_

 

"..." He ignored him and walked out, to others, he would have looked like he was a little dizzy. And in a way, he was. When he walked down the stairs, every sound his feet made from the impact of him stepping seemed to be as loud as a gun shot, or maybe it was him. He went into the living room, where Ed was sitting on the couch, looking down at the floor. Pinako was sitting on the other couch, which was bigger. He didn't even take a glance at them.

 

"I'm goin' out for a walk..." He said, vaguely. Ed said nothing and didn't bother to look at him. And Pinako didn't question it, she was kind of on guard, since there was a homunculus in her house. But she could tell that he was to be trusted. Greed trudged to the door and opened it, then closing it again as he walked out. The slightly warm spring air surrounded him, but he honestly could have cared less.  _"Greed, where are you going?"_

 

"Just for a walk..."

 

_"..."_

 

"Yeah...just for a walk."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, listen to Apparition by Troy Baker because he was the one who dubbed Greed and...
> 
> Hooooooly SHIT does his voice sound good. Troy, you are amazing :3


	8. Alone

"..." Greed walked through the woods, or more like he lazily just stumbled around. He didn't know why, and he didn't care. As he was walking, he was staring at the ground, occasionally bumping into a tree now and again. He couldn't describe how he felt at the moment, maybe it was because he had never felt this way before. He regretted not shutting his big mouth when he should've, then maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. But what did it matter?

 

He can't go back to the Homunculi, and Ed hated him now. Ling was ignoring him, the same goes for Darius and Heinkel. His old gang members were dead. His name was Greed, yet he had nothing. 

 

What did he have to lose?

 

He stopped for a minute, he didn't know why. He didn't know about anything anymore, had he finally lost sight of who he was. He felt a cold, black, blade like thing wrap around his neck. But it still hovered around it, the sharp point was pointing at his Adam's apple. There was only one person who could have the ability to do this.

 

Pride.

 

"Hello there, brother. Do you know how long it took me to find you? You certainly know how to cover up your footprints."

 

"..." It seemed like Greed couldn't hear what Pride had said, it looked like he didn't even acknowledge that he was there, much less pointing one of his shadows at his neck. "Father said that it's about time that you be punished for disobeying him."

 

"...Is that..so?" He had just a small flicker of awareness in him. Pride was a little suspicious of his behavior, he had never seen him like this. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way, is that you come and follow me. The hard way, well..let's just say it won't end well for you." The shadows with large violet eyes had protruded out of the ground. "So what will it be, Greed?"

 

"...Can I ask you something?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"...Have you ever done something, and in the end, it meant nothing?" Pride's innocent but devilish smile faded away. "Why are you asking?"

 

"You're name is Pride, and usually, you don't like to lose..."

 

"That's correct." He nodded. "If you don't like to lose, what if you have nothing to fight for? What if...everything you thought you had, you owned, wasn't really yours at all? And you had nothing to fight for? Nothing to keep you going..." Pride tilted his head slightly.

 

"...Where is this coming from?"

 

"Tell me..." Greed's dark grey shield slowly crept upon his arms. "What's the point?" His eyes met the older one, he noticed that Greed's aura was more dark and insidious."What's the point in trying? That's when Pride knew...

 

Something was  _definitely_ wrong.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"...What time is it?" Pinako turned to Ed. He took out his pocket watch and flipped it open. "...6:32."

 

"It's getting late. Your friend has been out there for a long time." Ed slightly cringed when she said 'friend'. He didn't know what to think of Greed, not after what he said about them being just his possessions. Of course he knew what he was going through...but did he really know? How it felt? "So what? He'll be back."

 

He was actually starting to get worried about him, who knows what stupid things he got himself into. "If I were you, I would try to find him."

 

"But who knows where he could be."

 

"...Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't chimera's have good sense of smell?" Pinako raised her brow and took another drag from her long pipe. Ed sighed in defeat and stood up. "Guys. We're gonna go get Greed." Darius and Heinkel looked at each other, they didn't seem to have a problem with it, despite that Ed told them about what happened. Ed didn't give them time to respond and instantly walked out. They decided to follow him, he was already under the weather so they didn't want to make it worse.

 

"Alright, use that smell you've got there." Heinkel nodded. He started to sniff around, seeing if he can pick up his scent. After turning his head and body to try to find it, the familiar smell hit his nostrils. "Follow me." 

 

As they were walking, Ed was starting to wonder if he went a little too far. He was still pissed at Greed, but he remembered when he pushed him up against the wall and told him that if he kept doing what he was doing, he'd end up alone. He swore he saw a little glint in his eyes. Still in thought, Heinkel abruptly stopped. "What is it? Did you find him?"

 

"...More or less..."

 

"What the hell does that mean?" Heinkel looked at him. "There's someone else their with him."

 

"Well I guess he's finally making frie-"

 

"Someone like him." He cut him off. It took a second for Ed to process what he meant. When he did, his jaw dropped. "Oh you have gotta be kidding me! Guys! Come on!" Ed took off running into the woods, shortly followed by the two others. Ed hated it when Greed took over Ling's body, but he was the most rational and human out of all of the Homunculi. And even though he captured his brother in the past, he was still on their side. And he didn't offer his support because it was the nice thing to do.

 

He actually cared about him.

 

As the small branches slashed his skin, he still kept going until he finally reached a clearing. What he saw, it took him longer to comprehend than when he was told that another Homunculus was with him. 

 

Pride was on one side, his shadows waving in the air like snakes. And Greed on the other, his clothes were tattered and his eyes were directly on Pride as he walked closer to him. Ed didn't notice but Darius and Heinkel were watching behind him.

 

Greed ran towards Pride, and his shadows came at him at the same speed. As they met, Greed slashed at them with his razor sharp claws, though they still cut his sides and his shoulders. More shadows rose up and came down on him, and they clashed with his shield. "What's he doing?!" Darius yelled. "And who the hell is that?!" 

 

"That's Pride! He's the oldest of the Homunculi!" Ed saw that Pride was watching Greed as he fought with his shadows. "Pride? But he looks like-"

 

"I know. He's in the body of a child, but don't trust him!" Ed said as Greed charged at Pride again, only to be bombarded by a group of shadows that formed together and immediately engulfed him in mid air. Only for the shadows to be sliced and ripped open, he fell down and landed on his feet. "We can't let anyone see this! They'll tell the military, and their on the Homunculi's side!" Ed told them. Heinkel smelled someone's presence and was on full alert. "Shit! Someone's coming!" 

 

"What?!"

 

"You guys take care of that," Ed clapped his hands and his metal arm turned into a sword. "I'm helping Greed. He's gonna get himself killed!"

 

"How did he even find us?"

 

"Beats me..." Ed ran over to Greed, who was hunched over, catching his breath. It seemed like he had been fighting him for a long time. "Greed! Next time you decide to fight someone, let us know!" He got in his fighting stance, Greed straightened up and glared at him. "...I can do it by myself. Don't get in my way."

 

Ed was going to respond but he took off running before he got the chance. Greed dodged the incoming shadows and Pride didn't have time to react as he slashed his stomach. Pride flew back but still ended up on his feet, sliding back in the dirt. Greed just fell to the ground, as if his strength was all gone. All Ed could do was watch, as Pride's shadows were furious themselves. 

 

Ed's eyes were filled with confusion, soon that changed to horror as Greed pushed himself up.

 

"Is he...laughing?" The shadows flew past Greed, cutting his cheek and his arms. 

 

"Ahahaha..." Then multiple shadows came on impact and cut his torso and legs, blowing him back. But that didn't stop him, he used both of his arms to run back, slicing through every stream of shadows that came at him. When a shadow arm briefly moved in front of him and covered his sight for not even a second. When the shadow went away, Greed was right in front of him. He pushed him down to the ground, and Pride used his shadows to protect himself.

 

Greed started to stab and slash the shadows, while laughing maniacally. 

 

"Ahahahaha! AHAHAHA!" He had the smile of a insane serial killer. "They're right! They're all right!" He yelled as Heinkel and Darius had taken care of the problem, they were completely speechless as he kept on laughing.

 

"I really AM gonna be alone!!" If you had a look at his face, you would say he was crying tears of blood. He stopped to look at the damage he had caused. "If I'm always going to be alone..." He raised his right hand, his claw glistening.

 

"SO BE IT!"

 

 

 

_"Greed...please stop..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....
> 
> Please don't kill me.


	9. Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! More suffering for my potential child! :D *cries on the inside*
> 
> But anyway, as for Upgrade, it is going on a hiatus. But just for a short while. I'll continue it when I finish this story, but idk how many chapters this is gonna be. But as you guys have noticed, I am a fast updater because I actually have 3 classes that use computers and I have time at home :). I upload at least 1 or 2 chapters every week, and if I have the time and stamina, even 3. So it won't be postponed for that long. That's all for now 
> 
> Byyyyeeee :3

"Ahaha! Ahahaha!" Greed kept smashing the shadows for who knows how long. The shadows began to unfold, revealing an empty spot where Pride was, meaning that at some point, Pride had escaped. Greed stopped and stood up straight, his arms fell to the side and hung loosely. Blood that was his and Prides was splattered all over him. By now, he had stopped laughing, and red flashes and sparks of lightning surrounded him. He was starting to heal, but even so, the regeneration process made him look even more creepy.

 

"So he got away, huh?" He mumbled to himself. "Haha...I was such an idiot..such a-" He stopped mid sentence and dropped to the ground, and Ed quickly ran over to him. He used his hands to support his back and looked at him. There was no way that was the Greed he knew that was brutally smashing the shadows and laughing like a psychopath.

 

There was just  _no way._

 

"Hey, Greed!" He must have been exhausted. When he left the house, it was around 6:45-ish. So that meant that he'd been fighting Pride for at least two and a half hours. Ed felt stupid, letting him go out on his own. He thought that he could have prevented this, if only he hadn't been so mad at him. "Guys! Take him to the house!" Heinkel immediately put his hand on Greed's back and the other on on the underside of his legs and scooped him up.

 

"What about you?"

 

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, trust me. I'll catch up." He waved them off, Heinkel nodded and started to run back into the brush, followed by Darius. Ed didn't expect him to run but he didn't question it either. "You know, that was very..." Ed whipped over to the left, and sure enough, it was Pride. Was he back for more? "Interesting."

 

"You bastard!" Ed clenched his fists. "What the hell did you do to him?!" 

 

"What did I do to him?" He chuckled. "Ahaha! Now _that_ is a question, what  _did_ I do to him? Well I'll tell you..." The little boy calmly walked towards Ed. "The answer's simple, I did absolutely nothing." He shrugged. But Ed was not buying it. "Cut the bullshit! You-...You must've done something! That was  _not_ Greed!

 

"What if it wasn't? The thing is, even I don't know what's going on with him. Who would've thought that the incarnation of Greed would go...well, insane."

 

"He's not insane!" He yelled. "You're lucky I'm not beating you to a pulp!" He held his sword in front of him, trying to look menacing. "If you didn't understand, then I'll say it in a different way. I had nothing to do with what occurred at all, and don't worry. After I've told Father about what happened, he probably won't care about him anymore, we wouldn't want an insane brother, now would we? But out of pity, I'll offer you some advice, as his brother."

 

"And just how do I know that I can trust  _you?_ " He asked skeptically. "You don't know, but you are very lucky I'm not ripping you to shreds. So are you willing to listen or not?"

 

"..." He thought about it, Pride could have the answer to helping Greed, and this whole mess would be over. Even though the Homunculi were not to be trusted, this was his only shot. "Alright, I'll listen."

 

"You should try to talking to him, I can't guarantee it will work. But you have to do something, because if you don't, it will only get worse. And the worse case scenario? He'll kill you all." Ed could have swore his heart stopped for a second, would he really kill all of them? "...You're joking.."

 

"I kid you not." Pride crossed his arms. "If I were you, I'd ditch him."

 

"Not happening!"

 

"Fine, but not only is he a danger to you guys, but he's a danger to himself, also. That's all I really have to say, so I'll be taking my leave now." Pride was about to turn away but stopped. "And one last thing...if you guys wait any longer..." His eyes showed real truth in them.

 

"There will be no saving him." They both stood their for a moment, until Pride faced the trees. "Until we meet again, goodbye." With that, he disappeared into the woods, leaving Ed by himself. No matter how much he didn't want to admit it, Pride was right. if he didn't do something fast, then it would be too late. But he wished he could have prevented what happened earlier, even with regret filling him, he figured he should be getting back to the house.

 

* * *

 

 

The front door flew wide open with Ed in the entrance. "I'm back." He looked side to side, but there was no sight of Greed. "Where's Greed?"

 

"He's upstairs, but he's a little...out of it." Darius seemed uncomfortable saying that, he saw what happened. And he was a little shaken up by it. Winry still had no clue about what went on, and she was trying to get something out of them. "Ed, what happened?" She asked with a concerned look on her face.

 

"...I'll tell you later, I promise." Winry stared at him, but backed off. "Okay..." 

 

"I'm gonna go check on him." He walked up the stairs and stopped on the fifth one. "I'll tell you how he's doing after." 

 

"He's in the guest room." Heinkel pointed upstairs. Ed nodded and continue to walk up the stairwell. He got to the second floor and stared at the guest room door. "Here goes nothing..." He turned the door handle and entered the small room. Greed was sitting on the side of the bed, his head was hung low, staring at the wooden plank floor boards. His long coat was off, and there was a glass of water on the night stand. Ed cautiously walked over to him and slowly sat on the bed.

 

"Hey, Greed...you doing alright?" 

 

"..." 

 

"...I wanna talk to you about something. It's about what happened earlier." He was starting to get more blunt. "I know that you think you're going to be alone forever-"

 

"I think?" He sent him a dark glare. "I _know._ You said it yourself, if I keep going down the path I'm going, I'll have nobody. I'm Greed...I'm supposed to want everything. And there's nothing that can change that." He attempted to stand up, but his knees buckled and he almost collapsed, but Ed stood up just in time to catch him. "Take it easy!" He was shoved back by Greed. "I'm fine." He said bitterly.

 

"I was so stupid, I thought-...I thought I had a chance, even the slightest..."

 

"You still do!"

 

"That's bullshit!" He snarled at him. "I never had the chance at all! I'm not even human, I wasn't made for this!" Ed didn't know what he was referring to. "What do you mean 'this'?"

 

"That's not important right now." His lone side bang covered his eye as he got quiet. "Ya know, when I got my memories back," His voice sounded a little shaky. "It wasn't just of what happened in the Devil's Nest...do you know what other messed up things I've done? I've kidnapped...I've raped...I've murdered...that might have not been the guy I am today, but it was still me. " He held out the back side of his left hand, showing his dark red Ouroboros tattoo.

 

"You see this? _This_ is what separates me from the rest, I'm not like you. After everything I've done, I won't hesitate to call myself a monster. My soul purpose is do exactly what a greedy man does, want more, more, and more. Until there's nothing left for me to take. Even then, I'll still want more. And other that, I'm completely useless." He put his hand back down. "Oh, and stop trying to act like you're trying to help me, I don't need any help. And even if you are trying to help..." Greed slowly walked to the door, but stopped and turned his head back towards Ed, with the most dark and menacing look he had ever received from him.

 

"You _can't._ "

 

 

 


	10. Den

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is one of the most lighthearted chapters I have written in this story.

Greed slammed the door and stomped downstairs, though he had to use the railing for support. He assumed that the others had heard the door slam, since he noticed that it echoed. Or that could have been just his imagination, and if it was, he wouldn't have been surprise. When he reached the bottom of the steps, they all turned their heads, each one filled with the same amount of concern.

 

He ignored them and simply walked past them, but a hand had a strong grip on his arm. "You think after what happened we're just gonna let you go?" Heinkel asked sternly. Greed ripped his arm away and glared at him. "I'm not going anywhere, just to the porch. If you don't trust me, then you can send someone to spy on me, if it makes you feel better." He wasted no time to immediately walked outside, closing the door behind him, or more like slamming the door again. He sat down on the first of the three steps that led to the front yard and was starting to space out, but a voice he didn't want to hear kept him from doing so.

 

 _"How could you..."_ Ling's voice was shaky with anger.  _"How could you say that to him?! He was trying to help!"_ Greed rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh would you shut up for once?! How about instead of defying and questioning me every time I do something you don't like, can you just stay quiet?" 

 

 _"Oh! So you've forgotten?"_ Forgotten? If anything, he remembered, not forgotten. "Forgotten what?"

 

 _"I am very happy to tell you that because you decided that it was such a great idea to not eat for the past week, my soul is way stronger than yours now. It's almost like I'm the homunculus in this case. But I've been nice about it, and I let you have control. But now that you yelled at Ed twice today, I think I just may take my body back!"_ Greed was a little speechless because he knew that Ling was right.

 

"...You wouldn't dare..."

 

 _"Try me!"_ Even though Greed was a little alerted by Ling's statement, he couldn't really focus on that. He couldn't focus on anything. He felt lightheaded, nauseous, he couldn't keep his eyes open for more than two seconds, and his head was pounding. In short, he felt terrible. Greed tilted his head and set it against the railing. It wasn't the best resting spot, but it was better than nothing.  _"Greed, I know that the only reason why you're being like this is because-"_

 

"Stop acting like you know me! You  _don't_ know why I'm 'acting' like this, and even if you did, I could care less."

 

 _"I do know. You just won't let me say it, you won't let me; anyone, in...And I wish you would, if you did, you wouldn't feel like this."_ Greed just didn't feel terrible, he wanted to start bashing his head on the railing to distract him from the pounding pain, and it was taking every fiber in his being not to do it. He felt fur brush against his knee, so he jumped slightly.

 

A medium sized dog with black and white fur, all except her left leg, which was replaced with metal limb. She was sitting down next to him, wagging her tail a little. Greed remembered that she belonged to Winry, but he didn't know her name. The last thing he wanted to do was look at her, because she reminded Greed of 'him'. "Go away."

 

He continued to try to block out the pain, but when his eyes shifted to his left, he noticed that the dog didn't comply to with his orders. He clicked his tongue and faced the dog. "I said, go away." He put his hand on her chest and pushed her away, but she came walking back, and she turned her head as if she was asking 'What's wrong?' He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.

 

"Fine, stay then. Just don't bother me." He crossed his arms and faced the other way. He tried to ignore her, but her presence was just bugging him. With her next to him and the pain, he couldn't focus on anything at all. Out of a last ditch effort to get some peace and quiet, he got to his feet and had his mind set on going somewhere that he could just rest for a little.

 

As he was about to exit the yard, she ran out in front of him, blocking the way to get out. He thought that she was doing it to annoy him and make his day even more worse, so his patience level was getting lower and lower by the second. "For the last damn time, go awa-" She suddenly leaped up and jumped on his chest, making him fall down. He hit the ground and found it a little hard to breathe, do to the dog that was on him.

 

"What the hell?!" When he came to his senses, she was looking down on him with her big round eyes. He had lost his ability to speak, and they just stared at each other in silence. Until she leaned down and dragged her tongue across his face.

 

"Eww, Jesus, your breath stinks!" She ignored him and continued to lick his face, and sadly, a thing that Greed was scared to admit was that he was  _very_ ticklish. He didn't know why, but even when he was in his original body, he never gave away his weakness so that way people wouldn't use it against him. It was only common sense.

 

"Pfft-..Hahahaha!" He laughed out loud. "St-Stop! Ahahaha! G-Get off of me!" Greed couldn't help but smile, she wagged her tail happily and nuzzled him.

 

 "I see that Den's good at cheering people up." She instantly jumped off him and ran to the person that was standing behind him. Winry crouched down and rubbed the Den's body. "That's a good girl." She smiled softly. Greed figured that he should probably get up and not look like an idiot, so he scrambled to his feet and starting to brush off the dirt from his clothes, which wasn't even there, and cleared his throat.

 

"...You need to keep that dog on a leash."

 

"And you seemed to be have been having a fun time when she wasn't." Winry smirked in amusement. "She knows that you're a homunculus, I can tell. But she likes you."

 

"She?" Greed glanced at Den. "What's her name?"

 

"Den, according to Pinako, she's 'Resembool's best bodyguard'." The name Den sounded like a boy name, he was kind of surprised. Greed wiped off the slobber from his face with his sleeve, and looked at her automail leg. "She lost her leg?"

 

"Yeah, it was an accident. If it wasn't for her, me and the brothers would have been dead. She protected us." Winry telling him that made him think of Dolchetto. When Greed was in a situation, which he could have taken care of it easily, Dolchetto was the first one on the scene, without thinking twice. It was almost like he didn't have to think at all, he had this undying sense of loyalty, and on some level, possessiveness. Like a bodyguard.

 

"She protected you, huh?" He mumbled. Den had Winry, Pinako, other dogs probably. People to protect...

 

People that loved her.

 

"Hey Greed-..that's your name, right?" Winry was still petting Den on the head as she looked at him. "...Yeah."

 

"I have a confession, since no one was telling me anything, I decided to figure it out for myself. And I...kinda heard you and Ed's conversation..." She admitted, it didn't really make Greed mad or anything, but he wished she hadn't heard what he said to Ed, because he knew that Ed was at least important to her on some level. He sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Let me guess, you're here to yell at me because of what I said."

 

"No," Winry shook her head. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

 

"Well then let's hear it already."

 

"...Usually, I would be yelling at you. But you actually had a point, a good one. I got the rest of the information from Darius, I literally had to beat it out of him...anyway, you were right. You are a homunculus, and you're not like us. You're- or you should be considered as, the enemy, do to everything you've done in your past and you being born from someone's sin. But just because you were made for something, doesn't mean you have to do it. You rebelled from the Homunculi, twice, right? You were made to serve Father, but look what happened."

 

He had lost his voice again, not knowing what to say. Even if he wanted to comment on that statement or even agree with her, he knew that the words would not come out. "You're here, are you not? You're on our side. Just because you were made for a specific purpose, doesn't mean you can't choose your own path. You're not some object, you're a living and breathing man. Who, based on how Ed describes them, is on a whole different level than the other Homunculi. I just wanted to remind you of that." 

 

She patted Den's side. "Come on, let's go inside." Den happily ran up the porch steps and waited obediently by the door. Winry pivoted and before she arrived at the door, she stopped. "And by the way, there's something I'd really like you to remember." She faced him and gave him a soft smile.

 

"You don't have to be a good person to be a hero." With that floating in the air, she opened the door and walked in, with Den following behind her. And the door gently shut closed. Greed had more a few seconds to figure out he was witnessing one of those rare moments of silence, no people talking, no sound of the train from a little ways ahead, it was complete silence. And in that moment, he realized...

 

 

The pain was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone gets the idea
> 
> No, Greed does not like Winry in that way. Though canonically he stated that she was (and I quote) "My kind of girl" but no mmkay?


	11. Apologize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I almost got caught by the Plague of Procrastination, but I love this story so fuck the plague.

"No, I-I can't!" Greed shook his head vigorously, kneeling down next to someone who was important to him. "Are you crazy?! That's the last thing I wanna do!" The person who was lying in their own pain smiled sadly.  "It's okay, Boss. You can do it...all you..have to do is...use your...ultimate shield and aim for my...heart..it'll be easy-"

 

"No! It's not that easy! If it was, I would've-"

 

"Boss...I know, I know it's hard but...it hurts.." Surrounding them was ruins of a city, building's crumbled down and destroyed, the ground had cracks and was partly split open, there was ash and soot in the air and the sky was a covered with purplish grey clouds. No tree or sign of life was in sight except the two, which was was barely alive. It wasn't just the location they were in that was destroyed, it was the whole entire world. "But-...no..I-I can't..."

 

"I know you can. I don't wanna live in pain for my whole life...just please man...and not everyone's dead, there's still some people alive. You're gonna rule the world, just like you wanted...but you've gotta have some..casualties." Greed had a loss of words, he couldn't believe this was happening.

 

He absolutely could not believe this was happening.

 

"Oh come on...don't sweat it, you'll be fine without me...ahaha, you look like you're about to cry..don't go bustin' a fire hydrant on me." 

 

"I'm not..." No matter how much he tried to not make it seem like a big deal to him, like he was just one of his possessions and there was much more to gain than him. But this was causing a 'pain' in his chest, and as this went on, it grew bigger by the second. It was eating him from the inside out.

 

"..."

 

"Kill me..." His dark grey shield slowly rose up on his arm, and he reluctantly raised his hand in a certain position so if he dug his claws into him, it would directly pierce his heart. The metallic glint shined as his arm was still hovering, and his hand was shaking. "Greed." That was the first time he had ever said his name, not since the very first time they had met. "I know."

 

_'No...'_

 

Greed focused on the right side of his chest, which was the others left. One hit with his razor sharp claws and it would be quick. 

 

_'Please no...'_

 

He would only feel the pain for a few seconds.

 

_'I can't...'_

 

A quick...easy...death.

 

_'Stop...'_

 

It seemed like slow motion as he elevated his arm his arm a little higher, and he used all the force he could.

 

_'I'm sorry...Dolchetto.'_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Greed woke up with a gasp, he was clenching his fist so hard that his nails were digging into his palms and drawing blood, which was staining the bed sheets. He felt that something was spread across his head, it was warm and wet, which he almost had mistaken it for Den's tongue, but he could faintly see that it was white. 

 

 "You okay?" He turned his head weakly to the left, Winry was sitting in a chair that was placed next to the side of the bed, Den was sitting on the floor next to her, she looked concerned, about the same amount as Winry was. "You must've had a bad nightmare." Her eyes drifted over to the dark red blood stains on the sheets. "It wasn't a nightmare." He wasn't lying, not intentionally. He really thought that it wasn't a nightmare, even though he fully knew what they were. It was just a dream, in his mind.

 

"...What time is it?"

 

"Around 4:30, the last time I checked." Den jumped up on the bed and laid down next to Greed, resting her head on the left over part of the pillow that he wasn't occupying. "In the morning?"

 

"Yeah, I slept a little after I went inside so I could work on some automail examples for show. I stayed up the entire night, everyone else is sleeping." He was a little flattered. "Winry, you didn't have to watch over me the entire night."

 

"Actually, I didn't, it was Den that stood by here the whole time. I just walked in because I was looking for something. Like Pinako said, she's Resembool's best bodyguard." She giggled a little. "Then you started to talk in your sleep...so I decided while I was up..." Greed was more than aware that Winry could have gotten hint of what his dream was about, the little she knew, the better. "Oh..."

 

He reached to take the white material from his forehead and focused his eyes on it. It was some type of cloth, she must have been really worried about him. He had mentally mentioned it before, she was a beautiful woman. But now wasn't the time to be a bachelor. "Listen, Winry." He turned his body so his legs were barely handing off the bed. "You're a really nice girl, and I like that, really. But I'm not really interested in being with somebody, maybe later, when the Promised Day is over with."

 

"..." She blinked at him a few times, before she burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! Greed, I appreciate you complimenting me, but I'm not into that stuff. Not yet, anyway. You're way much better than I thought you were going to be initially be, but I'm not interested either. I do have someone in mind, though." She did look like she was thinking of someone special. "...Who is it?" He asked in curiosity. "Do I know him?"

 

"Yes. But since when did you get so overprotective?"

 

"I'm Greed, I have to be protective of all my possessions. Or else someone would try to steal them." He flashed a for once, not fake, smirk. Winry found it amusing how every one of his 'possessions' meant everything to him. "Yeah, okay. Let's just go with that."

 

"But anyway, who is it?"

 

"I don't have to tell you." She crossed her arms. "Oh come on, tell me!" The more the conversation went on, the more his curiosity got larger. "I ain't got all day, you know. And I won't tell Ed, I promise."

 

"..." She was facing the window, she was probably daydreaming about someone. It took him a few moments to process the signs by her actions, and when he came to a conclusion, his jaw dropped a little. "No way...you like Ed, don't you? I knew it!" Winry's cheeks were tinted red as he stated that. "W-What do you know?!" She asked, flustered. "I know that you like Ed." 

 

"...I never said that." She shook her head, trying to sound convincing. "But you're not saying you don't like him, now are you?" He gave her the 'Admit it already' look, even Ling could tell that she liked Ed from her facial expression.  _"Oh yeah, she so totally likes Ed."_

 

 "Even Ling knows you like him!"

 

"Do not."

 

"Do too."

 

"Do not!"

 

"Do to-"

 

"The hell?" Ed had just arrived at the scene, he didn't hear much. All he heard was the back and forth argument, nothing else. It surprisingly wasn't their conversation that woke him up, he actually woke up by himself, which he intended to. If they were going to fight in the Promised Day, they needed to wake up early and get a head start. The two immediately stopped talking and whipped their heads to the smaller one. "...Oh, uh, hey Ed..." 

 

"...Anyway..Greed, we're leaving."

 

"Huh? Why so early?" Winry thought that they would stay for a little longer. "The sooner we get there the better. And we've gotta meet 'him' to get a whole idea of what's gonna happen, because Greed sure wasn't taking his personal time to tell them just what exactly they were up against. "Well if that's the case, I'm gonna pack you guys something to eat. I'll be back." She exited the room, waving before she did. Den jumped off the bed and followed her out. There was an awkward silence that filled the air, and Greed started to play with the corner of the light bed sheet. _"Come on, you can do it."_

 

"...Listen, Ed...uh..." He looked down at the bed, trying to avoid eye contact. "Yeah? What is it?"

 

"...Well..." As the words were forming onto his tongue, his mouth just would not move. He could barely get the words out. "I-..."

 

"...Yes?" As the clock ticked by, panic started to rise in him. It should have been easy to say, it was only a couple of words. "I-...I-..n-never mind!" He exclaimed. "J-Just..leave.." He was gripping the bed sheet, but not as hard as before. Just enough to make his knuckles turn white. "Okay..." Ed knew that he seemed to be having some type of panic attack, and the last thing he wanted to do was make it worse.

 

"Be ready in ten or fifteen minutes, okay?" Greed was still tilted down towards the bed, his side bang covering his right eye. "...Okay.." He whispered. The last thing he heard was the sound of the door gently shutting closed.

 

_"Greed, please don't tell me you just freaked out over that."_

 

"I-...It doesn't matter, if I couldn't say it, then...I-..I probably wasn't supposed to say it at all..yeah.." His voice was shaky again, as if it was cold to the bone in the room and he was shivering. It was okay...

 

Not everyone has to apologize, right?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just had a nightmare where you had to kill your friend?
> 
> BETTER DAB-


	12. Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *trying to write this chapter* ALEXIA STOP SHOWING ME TWO GUYS DRESSED AS SPIDER MAN SPANKING EACH OTHERS ASS MIXED WITH 'A THOUSAND MILES'

"Good luck you guys!" Winry was standing outside the door, which was wide open. "Hey Ed, if you stop by a phone booth, give me a call, okay?" Ed sighed a little dramatically. "Yeah, yeah..."

 

"'Yeah, yeah'?!" Winry raised her metal wrench in a sinister manner, with eyes of the devil. "Don't you 'Yeah, yeah' me! You're going to go on a practical suicide mission and that's what you have as a goodbye?!" Ed was cowering in the corner as she was unleashing her wrath on him. "I'M SORRY WINRY PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

 

"You  _better_ be sorry!" She hissed at him. "You better learn how to bid a PROPER goodbye, you hear me?!"

 

"Yes ma'am!" He nodded. The scene was amusing to the two chimera, who were standing behind him. Greed was also finding it hard not to laugh at the situation, but he felt something brush his leg. Den was looking up at him with sadness in her eyes, it wasn't just him that she didn't want to leave, it was Ed and the chimera too. Greed kneeled down in front of her, and scratched behind her ears.

 

"..." He had a couple of words at the tip of his tongue, but found himself not being able to say them. So he replaced them. "Don't worry, I'll be back." He couldn't help but feel a little unsure about that statement, but shrugged it off. Her tail wagged a little bit and she was panting, he got back up to his feet and shoved his hands in the pockets of his black slacks. "Alright, let's go." Greed was about to walk out the door, but he stopped as he noticed that Winry was next to his side.

 

"...Thanks for having us, see ya later, Winry."

 

"That was kind of a half assed goodbye, but it's more decent than  _someones."_ She shot Ed a glare. "Ha..ha..ha..ha..." Ed laughed nervously.

 

Greed thought that it was weird how someone so nice and kind can turn into someone that even Satan would worship. 

 

* * *

 

"Tell me," Greed's head was hung low as a slight breeze brushed his shoulder as he was standing across from someone in the grassy field. "What's your real intention here?"

 

"That's easy enough to explain. I just want to gather the human sacrifices, and use them to open the gate. And not only will I discover if The Truth is real, but also bring out a new era of Alchemy, an era that only people would dream of. But I need your creator to do it. Nothing more than that." The man grinned. "You do know that if my old man's plan goes all smoothly, you'll drop dead like the rest of them. There ain't no avoiding that."

 

"But what about you? If his plan does follow through, he'll probably melt you back into a philosopher's stone just like before, because you're such a stubborn ass. Nothing's going to change. So you should make the best of your time while you can with your little crew, you're going to need it." 

 

"You bastard...you think you can manipulate me so easily?!" As if lightning struck the sky, the light blue hue turned into a dark grey in an instant. "Oh, that's rather unusual, I didn't know you could control the weather." As the person spoke calmly, the bright green grass started to wilt, and turned into a light dull yellow.

 

"But I must admit, I don't know what you're so mad about. And how am I using you? Please, enlighten me." He crossed his arms, hoping to be amused."You know I'm the only one who has a chance at beating him, I'm the only one who knows that they can't do it without me. You're trying to distract me from what's important!"

 

"Oh, don't tell me, your mission to 'own the world'?" He said, sarcastically. "...You don't understand, do you? No matter how many souls I've got inside me, no matter how many henchmen, I'm still empty inside...and the only thing that can fill that emptiness is the world itself! And I won't stop until it's mine!" The man chuckled creepily, and then burst out laughing.

 

"Oh my god! That is the most idiotic statement I have ever heard! You think that the world and everything it will give you going to fill your emptiness? Ha! You don't even know what the world has to offer! You damn fool, you have your heart, mind, and soul set on something and you don't even know what it is you've set them on! Instead of making a real person out of yourself, and actually having at least someone to back you up, you'd rather throw away that chance and waste your time on a dream that won't come true. I may be the bad guy here, but that's just utterly pathetic. Greed, you're setting yourself up for doom, and at this point, there's probably nothing you can do about it."

 

He continued to rant on and on, but Greed stayed quiet until he slowly tilted his head up towards him. His eyes were glowing an unusual crimson red, with absolute anger on his face.

 

"JUST SHUT THE  _HELL UP!!"_ A singular cracking noise resonated over the grassy field, it wasn't just any cracking sound, it was as if something was hit against a glass window. More cracking sounds were heard, back to back, until white streaks were all across the sky. All connected, like a sloppy spider web. 

 

"...Well aren't you just full of surprises?" One more cracking sound, and light blue shards came falling down, like glass shards. The openings that the shards left were a few shades of darker red than his eyes.

 

The sky was falling.

 

"Well, I must be on my leave now." The man grinned maliciously. 

 

"See you in central, you bitch."

 

* * *

 

"GREED WAKE UP ALREADY!" Greed felt something repeatedly pounding his head, his eyes flew open and the first thing he saw was a very unhappy Ed. "DON'T GO SLEEPIN' ON ME!"

 

"Well how about you stop hitting me!" He stopped Ed's arm by grabbing it and holding it tightly. "Well it got you up, didn't it?!"

 

"I don't care, okay?!" Greed pushed him back and placed his hand over his forehead. _"Greed, we need to talk about what's going on-"_ He quickly walked ahead so that way he could respond to Ling without making it look like he seemed crazy. "No, we don't."

 

_"Greed, I am not going to stand here and watch you beat yourself up."_

 

"The only person I'm gonna be beating up is  _you,_ if you don't shut your goddamn worthless trap! All you ever do is disagree with everything I do, and make a big deal out of nothing. I wish your soul would just die already so I can just have this body to myself, you little pissant-..." He was about to say more, but stopped himself  _"You know what? Fine!"_ Ling yelled at him.

 

_"I'm done! I tried to help you, I tried to be their for you. But obviously, it hasn't done SHIT. So guess what? The next time you have a nightmare, or something happens, you might as well have deserved it. You ungrateful piece of trash, you take advantage of everyone. I bet you were only nice to Winry so that way you could get on her good side!"_

 

"Ling, I-" 

 

  _"Go ahead, be the stuck up asshole that you are. But when you've got this whole world to yourself, and you feel even more pathetic...don't you DARE come crying to me! You got that?!"_

 

"..."

 

 _"...Let's just go already."_ Greed stood there, his eyes facing the ground, yet he wasn't looking at anything. It was strange, but four words kept him from thinking about that.

 

What have I done?

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can thank the 'Bitch' thing to my friend, who would not stop asking me to put that it in there.


	13. World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mom: Time to go to sleep.
> 
> Me: *dark circles under my eyes, eating ramen, and on my computer* wHaT is ThIs THING you call SlEEP???

"...You know..." Darius whispered to Heinkel. "Hm?"

 

"Greed has been..." Darius glanced at the man, who looked like an absolute wreck. His hair was messy, and he has visible dark circles under his eyes and his skin was paler than before. His clothes were also wrinkled and messed up. If you had taken a photograph of him three weeks before, and another one of him now, you would clearly see the difference. For a homunculus, he was definitely out of shape.

 

"Awfully quiet, don't 'cha think?" Heinkel looked at Greed and back at Darius. "Well not only is he quiet, but he's outta shape too. But the sad thing is, he's doing it to himself, and..." He stopped mid-sentence.

 

"...And what?"

 

"...And he doesn't know how to stop."

 

* * *

 

  _"Alright," Greed was standing in front of a line of people, specifically four chimera's. "When I point to you, I want your name, and what animal you were transmuted with." He sticks out his arm, pointing to Roa._

 

_"Roa, an Ox."_

 

 _"Ah, if I know my animals correctly, doesn't that mean you're strong or something?"_ _Greed crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. "Stronger than others, I guess." Roa shrugged._ _"...Okay," He pointed to Martel._

 

 _"Martel, snake." Martel's posture was laid back, and she blew away the strand of curly hair from her face. "You must be fiesty then, aye?" Greed winked at her  and smirked, trying to give her a suggestive idea. She rolled her eyes and gave him a little smile._ _"Maybe, maybe not."  Greed let his shoulders give out and went to the next person. "Dolchetto, got mixed with a dog."_

 

_"Wait, so do you like, piss with one leg up or something?" Martel and Roa snickered at the question, which didn't help Dolchetto, trying to keep his face from getting red. "N-No! I have never done anything of the sort!"_

 

_"Uh-huh, right..." He nodded his head, not buying it. He moved to the last person in the line, who was way much shorter than him. So he had to lower his hand so that way his finger would be centered on him. "What 'bout you?"_

 

_"Bido, I'm a Gecko chimera, sir!" Bido said enthusiastically with a huge smile on his face, so much that it was kind of weird. Though Greed couldn't see what there was to be so happy about, but he was satisfied that he at least treated him with respect. "So what kind of ability you got?"_

 

_"I can climb walls and stuff like that!"_

 

_"...I guess that's kind of useful." Greed was listing the things that climbing on walls would do to help him. "Oh, uh, sir?" Bido interrupted his train of thought. "Huh?"_

 

_"May I call you Mr. Greed?"_

 

_"...Sure." Greed smiled. "Why not?"_

 

* * *

 

 

"Greed!" He snapped out of his trance and looked at Ed. "..Huh?"

 

"I said, if you're gonna buy some food, here's some money." He held out the currency to Greed, but just before he could take it out of his hand, Ed closed his and pulled his arm away. "But you have to promise me something."

 

"Ugh..." Greed groaned. "What?"

 

"Promise me that you won't waste it on booze and crap like that!" Ed scowled at him. "You yourself is enough, we don't need a drunken you. Ya got that?" Greed sighed in annoyance, in order to keep him satisfied, he would have to agree to those terms. "Fine, I promise." Ed hesitated a little, but ended up giving him the money. "Good, be back in fifteen to twenty."

 

"Yeah, yeah..." Ed turned and walked away, set on getting something to eat. Who knows where Heinkel and Darius were.  _'Wait...since when did we get here?'_ Greed scanned his surroundings. There was tons of townspeople, roaming around on foot. There was carts set up filled with all kinds of food, not foreign, but just about everything.  _"You mean to tell me that you don't remember anything that happened in the last hour?"_

 

"...Oh yeah.." His memory started to work more clearly as he remembered how they met Ed's dad, and how he told them about The Promised Day, and now he was here. "..."

 

Instead of looking for something to eat, Greed strayed off from the main attraction. There was a tree, dimly lit by the light bulbs that the people set up, he found himself placing his back against the tree and slowly sliding down to the ground. He tilted his head upwards towards the night sky, and his eyes traced every tiny white dot he could physically see. He didn't notice it before, but he just had realized that if you look hard enough, the sky would curve in the distance. That made sense, since the earth was round.

 

But he just never noticed that.

 

He didn't go to school, but he did have a standard education. And he knew that the world was round, almost everyone knew that. He imagined the world as a floating ball, just waiting to be harnessed. All he had to do, was grab it. And it would be his. Everything would happen at his word, everything on his call. He would have the whole entire world, and resided in it, to himself. It would be his, forever, and ever...

 

Greed suddenly got to his feet and started walking back, he reached in his pocket and took out the money that Ed lent to him and he circled around from the back to a stand. He didn't know what the guy was serving, but it smelled pretty good. He approached the table and slammed the money down on it. 

 

"What'cha got?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

This was it, they were heading to Central to go stop The Promised Day, which was destined to be the day after. It would be the day that Ed could potentially regain him and Alphonse's bodies back. It was also a potential chance for Greed to get what he had been intensively craving for from the start, as he clearly gave hints to that, at the least. He was out-manned, outnumbered, and he didn't have a clue as to how he was going to get the world. The only thing left to do, was just to wing it. 

 

The only reason why he ate, was because he knew that this was his dad he was going up against. Who was way much stronger than him. He didn't eat that much, because it was tough not spitting it out. It tasted fairly good, but he had an almost instant gag reflex that was threatening his chances of consumption. As mentioned before, it wasn't much. But it was a start.

 

And he didn't have a plan for what was coming next. They  _were_ heading to Central, but someone just had to stop them.

 

Alphonse, except, it wasn't Alphonse. His behavior seemed a little...off. Not the usual kind and lighthearted Alphonse, and he was speaking kind of slow, too. Greed was caught off guard and Ling wasted no time to take control. "Ed! Get away from him!" Ling warned, Ed looked back at him, a little confused.

 

"Huh?"

 

"He's a..." His voice trailed off as pitch black shadow hands started to emerge from Alphonse's metal body. They were slowly creeping towards them, as the violet red eyes were visible within the suit of armor. "Oh, you have gotta be kidding me..." Darius mumbled. "Well then, glad to see that you're all doing fine. I guess my advice affected him a little. So why don't you repay me back? Edward, Greed, I'd like you both to follow me." Pride said calmly. The same dark aura from his last encounter with him had started to show on Greed.

 

"Back for more, huh? Heh...and you still haven't learned your lesson..." Greed glared at him, his ultimate shield was starting to rise up on his arms. "I'll handle thi-" His collar was pulled on, almost making him fall back. "What the..?"

 

"No," Ed looked him straight in the eye. "I've got this." Greed's face was blank for a second before he let out a chuckle. "Kid, have you forgotten that I'm your boss, and that  _I_ call the shots around here-"

 

"You're not fighting, I've got this. Heinkel, Darius." He didn't have anytime to react as he felt strong arms on his, restraining him from moving. Was he actually serious about fighting Pride alone? "Hey, what the-...Let me go!" He tried to struggle from their grip, but he didn't know that chimera were so strong. "You can't fight him on your own, that's-"

 

"I already told you, I've got this. You're staying right here." He said, like it was nothing. "This is like a suicide mission!" 

 

"If you didn't understand me, let me put it in a way so that you will." Ed made his way towards Greed and jabbed his finger on his chest, glaring at him.

 

"You're  _going_ to stay right here, and you're  _going_ to wait until I'm finished with him. Got it?" 

 

"..."

 

"Good."


	14. Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Mr. Owl, how gay can this story get?
> 
> Mr. Owl: LET'S FIND OUT.

_'He can't be serious...'_ Greed thought. Had what happened earlier made Ed reconsider letting him fight at all? Which made Greed angry, not only was he telling him what to do, instead of it being the other way around, but he was also going alone on it. He might have alchemy, but Ed's chances of winning were low. But then again...it sounded like Greed himself before. He didn't want to be a hypocrite, but Ed fighting Pride alone was too risky.

 

He truly didn't want to lose another 'possession'.

 

"Are you crazy?! You're gonna get killed!" Greed shouted after him. "Oh really? That's what I said when  _you_ decided to fight Pride on your own, don't waste your energy on something like this." Ed clapped his hands together, forming a sword on his metal arm. "'Don't waste your energy'?!  _I'm_ the homunculus here! You shouldn't be wasting  _your_ energy!"

 

"I'll be fine." Ed shrugged. "No, you WON'T! Listen to me already! He's the most powerful of the homunculi, you won't last very long! You don't want leave your brother, or Winry, do you?!" He was using underhanded tactics, but he didn't care how low he had to go, the best choice for them was to flee, as much as he hated doing that himself. "Greed, for the last time, I'll be fine." The shadows charged at Ed, but he blocked them with his metal arm. Another one was coming from the right, so he ran other way and dodged it.

 

"Goddamnit..." He tried to jerk away his arms from the two men holding him back, but they started to pull him away from the main fight and behind a tree. "Let me go already!"

 

"I'd rather obey his orders than yours." Heinkel kept a firm grip on him. "What?! _I'm_ your boss, not him!"

 

"So?"

 

"What do you mean, 'so'?!" He was completely outraged, they were going against his orders, and Ed was doing something reckless. Thinking of that, he was starting to wonder if he should just back off a bit. "...Ed! For god sake! Stop trying to be the big damn hero and-"

 

"This isn't about being a hero, you dumbass! But now that I think about it, it's about time I start winning these fights!" Ed clapped his hands together again and slammed his hands on the ground, making a light blue electric shock of alchemy course through the ground, the lightning had arrived at the small down, travelling up the power lines. The light coming out from the bulbs went out, and all fire's set up had instantly burned out. The light around them was completely gone, and it was pitch black.

 

The shadows retreated back into Al's body, Pride's shadows couldn't work without light, so he was at a disadvantage. Plus, none of them could see a thing.  _"That was a pretty smart move, but...now none of us can see."_

"No shit..." Greed mumbled.  _'How did Pride find us anyway? Did Father give him some new ability?'_ Greed wondered. He could see, but barely, only faint shadows. "Hey, Greed." 

 

"Ed? Wherever you are, get your ass over here!" He was ready to give him a stern lecture on how stupid he was being. "I'd..rather not." Ed was slightly afraid of his impending anger he would let onto him. "Ed! Get your ass over here! Or so help you  _god-"_

 

"Alright, alright! Fine, sheesh." Ed put his hands out in front of him to keep him from bumping into something, and also to guide his way through the dark. "I just gotta find you though." Though he was kind of afraid, he seemed like he didn't care that Greed was blowing a gasket over it. "You are so dead! I told you to let me handle it! You are  _my_ possession! Next time, you better be prepared if they weren't holding me back! Don't ever-" 

 

Greed saw a faint shadow of something behind Ed, it looked...

 

Round?

 

There was two small minuscule white dots that was the only thing that was vividly visible. As if it was as fast as light, Greed's eyes widened at the revelation.

 

"EDWARD!" He lifted his arm and elbowed Darius in the stomach, then as he was stunned by is, he ripped his other arm away from Heinkel. He almost tripped, but he kept on running in a certain direction. He didn't know if where he was going was the direction he was intending to go to, so he had to just trust his gut, and hope for the best. He put his arms out in front of him, and as soon as he felt soft cloth from Ed's cloak on his hands, he shoved it out of the way. When he turned around...

 

_CHOMP!_

 

It took a few seconds, only a few to see that his own right arm was completely gone just below his bicep, blood flowing freely onto the ground. Greed grunted in pain, since homunculi were pretty tolerant to pain, it didn't feel as bad as a regular human would feel. His arm started to reconstruct itself, and his arm started to regenerate back to its original form, but the sleeves of his Nehru jacket and long coat were ripped off.

 

"Darius, now!"

 

  
"W-What do you want  _me_ to do?!" Darius was cowering behind a tree, not having the intention to come out. "Just..do something! And hurry up! It's Gluttony!" Greed yelled as Darius hesitantly decided that instead of hiding, he should go and fight.. _'So Gluttony's got the upper hand on all of us in the dark, and then we've got Pride to deal with when the lights are on...there's not much hope for us.'_

 

_"Hey Greed."_

 

"..What, Ling?"

 

 _"Switch with me. I can detect the presence of the homunculus when I'm the one in control."_ Greed thought about his suggestion, he didn't like the switching part, but it was the only way for them to have a chance at winning.  _"I was the one who warned us about Pride, right? I'll be able to maneuver around in the darkness."_ Greed sighed in defeat as he saw a shadow coming his way, and dodged it just in time.

 

"It's not like I have a choice! Just don't go running off with this body!" He let his guard down and Ling took over. "Just drop it! It was my body to begin with."

 

"Time to eat you!" Ling sensed Gluttony running at him from behind, mouth wide open. Ling turned around and elbowed his stomach, hard enough to slam him onto the ground, hitting his head. " _Nice job kid! You've got some pretty good moves."_ He complimented him. "Thanks!" 

 

"Ling?" Ed had finally gotten up from the ground. "That's right!" Gluttony got back up to his feet, rubbing his bald head. "You're making me angry!" He snarled. "All I want to do is eat! But you won't let me eat you and I'm getting hungrier!" His stomach started to part in the middle, huge white teeth bulging out from both sides with a grey eye in the middle. "So I guess I'll have to swallow EVERYTHING!"

 

"I sense something bad..." Darius mumbled. "What's bad?" Ed asked anxiously. "It's coming this way." Ling looked around. "What's coming this way?!"

 

"I've felt this presence before."

 

"Will you freaks tell me what the hell you're talking about?! Huh? Hello?! Normal guy here, I can't see in the dark!!" Ed yelled, but only to be completely ignored. A blur that was barely visible ran past them with ease and Gluttony froze in his place. They couldn't see, but something was definitely there. The next movement Gluttony made was collapsing as the cuts made on his body spurted out crimson blood.

 

"No way, is it-...it is.." A smile came across Ling's face. The figure flipped Gluttony over, slamming his back hard onto the ground.

 

"It's nice to see you again. Lan Fan."

 

* * *

 

 

"Agh!" Ed was thrown back by the shadow, resulting him falling next to Greed. "See? Even with my help, he's not that easy to beat!" Greed scolded him. Ed glared at him, not wanting to hear Greed being a 'hypocritcal bastard'. The reason why Pride could use his shadows was because the slum-dwellers had this 'great' idea to let the woods catch on fire, giving Pride light.

 

"Well I'm sorry, for trying to make a difference! And by the way, you haven't apologized for what happened the last time you fought him!" He pushed himself back up to his feet. "Apologize?! You call almost killing Pride something I did _wrong?_ If he hadn't gotten away the first time, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!" They both jumped out of the way as a shadow tried to stab them.

 

"I'm not talking about that! If you killed him, that would have been fine with me!"

 

"Then what are you complaining about?!" He felt a shadow curl around his leg and his arms, lifting him up in the air. "Damnit...!"

 

"Never mind that!'" Ed clapped his hands and formed a spear from the ground, aiming it at the bundle of shadows that were keeping Greed up in the air. "There's two things I need to ask!" He sliced the shadows with the spear, forcing them to let go of Greed and retract back to Pride. "What is it now?!"

 

"Do you know who pushed me out of the way when we couldn't see anything?" Greed froze in his place for a second, but smirked and dodged another shadow, "I ain't tellin'!" He blocked a shadow with his shielded arm. "It was you, wasn't it?" He shifted his eyes towards Ed, and didn't say a word. "..."

 

"Hey!...Greed, answer the question, will ya?!...Hello?! Earth to Greed!"

 

"I don't have to tell you anything, so shut up, blondie." A vein popped out from Ed's forehead and he gritted his teeth. "BLONDIE?! I swear, if you don't like me so much, you should have just left a long time ago! I get it, the reson why you don't want me to fight is because you think I'm a weak, useless, human! And that I'm just an object that you keep! And it makes me sick! I wish that you were never here, and I wish that you never existed in the FIRST PLACE-"

 

Greed was standing in front of him, arms wide open, with a sharp black shadow impaling him from his back and sticking out from his chest. Blood spilled from out of his mouth and dripped from his chin onto the ground. If he hadn't been there in time, Ed would have never seen the light of day ever again.

 

"You..don't get it..do you? The reason why I don't..want you to fight.." He turned his head upwards so that Ed's eyes were locked with his.

 

"BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU GOD DAMNIT!"

 

"Look out!" They both were caught off guard as Pride's shadows were charging towards them, but Darius ran in just in time and tackled them so that way they could avoid the incoming shadows. Greed's wound started to regenerate, yet he had one thing on his mind. Or more like, a sentence.

 

_'Nice going Greed..nice going.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAHHHH I NEED TO STOP PROCRASTINATING


	15. Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tsundere Greed, is a good Greed. And a good Greed, is a happy me.

Greed's head was pounding a little, maybe because of the incoming questions from Ed that were about the statement that he said just a few seconds ago. Gluttony had arrived to the opening, and he was clearly intending on eating them. But Pride, well, he had other plans. The three of them, him, Darius, and Ed were hiding behind a bush. Or at least they were somewhat trying to.

 

"...Stop staring at me." Greed side-glanced Ed. "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

 

"I'd rather not. And, I just wanna make something clear." It took a little bit for Greed to respond, because he didn't really want to. But if he kept on avoiding it, Ed would ask him more. "What?"

 

"I'm not sure if I'm reading this wrong or anything, but I get that you're kinda lonely, and I get that you care about me and stuff like that, but...I'm not really into guys, you know?"

 

 _'Into guys? What the hell does he-'_ Greed's jaw dropped and a light tint of pink covered his cheeks. "NOT LIKE THAT, YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL GAVE YOU THE IDEA THAT-" A hand was clamped over his mouth, stopping him from saying more. "If you're gonna argue, whisper." Darius scolded them. Greed's cheeks were still pink, and the funny thing was, he didn't know why. Meanwhile, Ling was having a laugh at this. _"Oh my god, Greed, you should see your face right now!"_

 

"W-What do you mean? What's wrong with my face??" He was completely dumbfounded. _'And why am I feeling so...what's the word..? Of forget about the word, I don't like it.'  
_

 

_"Embarrassed?"  
_

 

Greed? The Avaricious? _Embarrassed?_ He had felt many human emotions before, but he had never felt embarrassed before. "Well...how do I get rid of it?" He asked. _"Get rid of it? Greed,"_ He rested his forehead on his hand and sighed. _"I_ _t's not some parasite."_

 

"I don't care about what it is, just tell me how to get rid of it!"

 

 _"Hmm...well first, you need to calm down a little, that's the first approach I would take."_ He suggested. "...Uh, are you talking to Ling? Tell him that-" Greed inhaled out of annoyance. "Shut up, Ed." He cut him off and continued to listen to Ling's directions

 

"But-"

 

"If you don't be quiet I will make sure that you won't be able to walk for a month!" Everyone went silent, and crickets were chirping. Darius and Ed both covered their mouths to keep themselves from bursting out laughing. Ling didn't even try to hold himself back, as he was literally rolling on the floor, laughing his ass off. And Greed couldn't have been more clueless.

 

"...What?"

 

"Pfft-..Is that..so? You're gonna make him no be able to walk...for a month!" Darius was trying his best to hold it in, but it wasn't helping that much. _"T-Think about it, Greed!"_

 

"..." In not even a few seconds, his light pink face flushed a deep red. "YOU GUYS ARE THE MOST PERVERTED PEOPLE I HAVE EVER MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

 

"Guys! Look!" Heinkel pointed to the shadows starting to surround Gluttony.  _'What the...? What's up that monster's sleeve now?'_ Greed took in a sharp breath when the shadows suspended Gluttony in the air, slicing him in half.

 

"Oh...my god..."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Many things had gone through Greed's mind at that moment, he just saw his own brother kill his younger one, only to get his abilities and strength. But that was the  _least_ of his problems. If anything, he was glad that the 'big fat slob' was gone, he never liked him. The major thing that was on his mind was one thing. ' _Wrath'._ He was being held back by his crew and had to wait to get his revenge, but he also had to recover from what happened. He didn't like to talk about what happened on that day, he never did. But that didn't matter, what did was his revenge. And his revenge only.

 

And it still did, as he was walking through the deep green woods, crickets chirping and frogs croaking making their own type of music which was annoying to him. He made up his mind, and he couldn't just turn back...well actually, he could.

 

He really could.

 

_"Greed, you know you don't have to go to central."_

 

"Well too bad, because I am. Lust and Gluttony are dead, Pride's imprisoned, Envy's gone, Sloth's the only one left to guard Father, and Wrath's probably gonna be in Central. So when I kill him, and get to my old man, it's smooth sailing from there. Besides, you want that bastard dead too, right? I'm simply giving what we both want." He was referring to Bradley, he just couldn't wait bash his face into the concrete. _"Of course I do! But Ed and the gang are heading the same place you are, why not go with them?"_

 

"Sometimes, I don't think you pay attention, my avarice decides for me. And you know what it's saying? 'Go to Central, and kill Wrath'."

 

 _"Well it doesn't have to be like that."_ Greed stopped in his place, analyzing what Ling said. "..."

 

 _"Tell me honestly, Greed, when was the last time you made your own choices?"_ Ling crossed his arms and smirked a little. "...Why the hell are you asking me that?"

 

_"You don't know, do you? You probably have never made your own decision in your entire lifetime without your avarice influencing it, have you? That's kind of pathetic, if you ask me. I think any man, homunculus or not, should make their own decisions themselves...and not use avarice as an excuse to-"_

 

"Who the hell cares about that?! I've made up my mind, I'm going to central, and I'm going to-...I'm going to-..." 

 

 _"You're going to what? Go to central and get your revenge on Wrath, and then rule the world? Or go with them, and spend your time with them for one last day, then do the whole revenge thing. It's not your avarice's choice. It's yours."_ He felt his hand trembling a little, every time he'd think about finally making Wrath pay for what he did, and fill the empty hole in his soul...he'd always come back to the choice of staying with Ed and the gang.

 

"No...no! I've made up my mind, I-...AAGHHH!" His head slammed into the nearest tree, so hard that there was a small cracking sound. It was either his own head splitting or the tree splitting, either way, it didn't matter. "You goddamn pissant! Stop it! You're messing with my head and it's-" 

 

_"You need to calm down, Greed. Don't get riled up over something like this!"_

 

"That's not-...what the hell, I...know what I want..I-.." This had been the very first time he had been indecisive about something and he was surely not dealing with it as well as he intended to.  _"It's a simple decision-"_

 

"No, it's  _not!_ It's  _not_ a simple decision! It's not! It's-...It's..." He gritted his teeth.  _"I think the fact that it's hard for you to choose, says something, don't you think?"_ Ling's sly smirk wanted him want to bash his head up against Ling's head and hopefully succeed in cracking both. 

 

"...I am out of my goddamn mind." He pivoted and angrily started walking back, mumbling curse words to himself. Ling chuckled and smiled softly.

 

_"That's my Greed..."_

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To Lexi's comment:
> 
> Awww thank you! Right now I just want to sit on my bed, eat ramen, and watch Yuri on Ice, but I'm in school ;_;  
> Seeing that made me feel better, and I'll probably have the next chapter up by Wednesday or Thursday.
> 
> And really, thank you all for commenting and giving feedback, it makes me become a better writer. And it's nice to know that it's not just me who thinks of Greed as my cinny roll child XD So see ya later, for now ;P


	16. Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, I was writing this chapter and my friend Dakota was flipping his water bottle, and it landed on the power button of my computer, and I thought it erased the whole chapter. So long story short, I almost snapped his neck but it's okay ;)

"Hey, where did Greed go?" Ed asked looking around, he was so preoccupied with his dad's powerful alchemy, he had lost track of where he was. "I dunno...I haven't seen him since we captured Pride." Darius mumbled. "You don't think he ran off, do you?" He asked. "I don't know, why would he run off? If that bastard thinks that he can just ditch us then consider me not apart of his team any-"

 

"I'm right here.." Greed approached them, with his hands stuffed in his pockets and looking a little uncomfortable. "Greed! Don't go wandering off like that without telling me! What were you doing anyway?" Greed shifted his eyes towards him and shifted them back to Darius. "That's something I don't have to tell you, it's my business, not yours."

 

"Oh come on, how much secrets are you gonna keep from me? Is it really that bad?"

 

"I'm not saying what I don't want to say, I have the right to keep personal things personal, nothing more than that. Now could you stop bothering me?" An evil-like grin was plastered on Ed's lips as he started to dramatically circle around him. "Ooh, so it's something  _personal?"_

 

"Ed," He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Gimme a break."

 

"Was their someone waiting for you? Or were  _you_ waiting for someone, hmmmm?" He stroked his chin dramatically. "Or was it...pfft-...something you needed to 'take care of'?!" He chuckled, and like before, Greed still didn't get it. "What do you mean 'something you needed to take care of'? You guys make no-" Darius leaned in and whispered in his ear, telling him what it meant a little bluntly.

 

"...Oh you have got to be shitting me!! Seriously?! We just got done fighting Pride, your brother Al is trapped  _with him_. And the only thing you can think of is THAT?!" He yelled at all of them, slightly surprising them. "Ugh! I should have just left, I should have just gone to Central and I should've-" He put a hand up to his own mouth, cursing himself of his slip up."So that's what it was? You were gonna ditch us and go to Central, to do what, exactly?" He asked, a little suspicious.

 

"...I don't gotta tell you anything." He mumbled. "You've said to much now, it's funny, because we're intending to go to the same place..you..did know that, right?"

 

"Of course I did. I just had some personal business with someone in Central, nothing more than that." He said confidently. "With who?? Greed, if it's some girl that you met back in Central when you were with that bearded bastard-" 

 

"It wasn't a girl! Don't go getting the wrong idea..."

 

 _"They know too much now, Greed. You might as well tell them."_ Greed mentally cursed himself again for his frustration controlling what came out of his mouth. "..If you wanna know so much about it, fine. I was going to go to Central to try to attack Father and gain the power to rule this world, and at the mean time..." 

 

He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "Make Wrath pay." 

 

"...Right. Anyway, I need to tell ya something. So don't interrupt me." Ed stepped towards Greed and faced him directly. "..I'm sorry."

 

_'...Did he say..what I think he just..'_

 

"I didn't know that you cared about me like that, hell, I didn't even know you liked me as a person. Sorry, my bad." Greed felt a sharp pain in his head as a memory came to him.  _"Sorry, my bad!"_ He groaned in pain and held his head in his hand. "Huh? Jeez, has that been the first time someone has said sorry to you? Now that's just sad.."

 

"Of course not!" He took in deep breaths, hoping that the pain would subdue. "Um..anyway..actually, I'll come back to you.." His mind was hazy, and he was practically sweating bullets. "'I'll come back to you'?! I'm not some-"

 

"Yeah, uh.." His voice trailed off as he started walking farther away, gaining distance. _"Greed, you okay?"_ Ling asked in concern as he sat among the shadows. "I'll be fine." He muttered. "I'm just..having a rough time with all of these memories, that's all." That was all he managed to get out. _"There's something on your mind, I can tell. What is it?"_

 

Greed out some air and threw his head back, trying to relax all the tension in his neck. "It's just...before what happened at the Devil's Nest, the bar where the old me was...I remember that before we took Al as hostage, me and..'him'..."

 

_"'Him'? ...Oh..you mean B-"_

 

"Don't. Say it...I remember that me and him got into a really bad fight. Long story short, I said some...pretty bad stuff." He recalled the faint flashback.

 

* * *

 

 

_"Do you know what you've just done?! This is why I never let you be in charge of things, because everything you've ever done, turns to shit in the end, did you know that?! I bet you didn't, you ignorant bastard!"_

 

_  
P-Please, Mr. Greed, I-"_

 

_"'Mr. Greed' my ass! You're just a tiny little parasite who doesn't know anything but to latch onto people. And it makes me sick that you can't do one simple thing right! It makes me just wanna just put you out of your worthless MISERY!"_

 

* * *

 

 

"..Like...really, really, bad stuff." Greed mumbled quietly. "It was over a simple mistake, and I was overreacting...and I regret that day in general overall."

 

_"Well it doesn't have to be like that."_

 

"Huh?"

 

 _"Greed, I know that you have your sights on the world. But I think you should start smaller, than work your way up. For example, Xing. When I become emperor, then we'll talk about ruling the world. Come to Xing with me, Greed. And I promise you, that you won't regret it."_ For once Greed had no emotion on his face for a while. His robot-like expression was making Ling a little antsy, was he looking like that just to mess with him.

 

In Ling's opinion, probably.

 

"For the last time, Ling. It's the world, or death. As long as I'm alive, I will never stop wanting the world. End of discussion." Ling mentally noted strongly that Greed was not that easy to persuade when he has his eyes on something. Convincing him to come back to Xing with him was going to be hard.

 

Greed looked back at the dark sky, a few short thoughts going through his head. But there was one thought that stood out the most. _'Ed, why the hell are you apologizing?'_ He glanced at the blurry figures of Ed and some other people which probably arrived when he left.

 

_'It should be me.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *says a swear word out loud accidently*
> 
> Adult(who I don't even know): You're going to go to hell for saying that.
> 
> Me: Yeah, I know. I've kingdom to run.
> 
> Adult: ...
> 
> Me: I'll be expecting you, Mr. Brown.


	17. Update

Heeeeyyyyyyy :') Sorry for not updating, I've just gotten really lazy with not only this, but also with my grades which they are not looking so good...hahaha..It's a Parent and Teacher Conference, they said. Don't stress about it, they said. IT'LL GO GREAT, THEY SAID-

 

But anyway, I can't write at home as much but I can write at school mostly since 3 or 4 of my classes are on or use computers. And I really need to get my grades up so sadly, this is not a chapter. I'll probably have another chapter out by Wednesday or Thursday. Also, I need to plan how the story is gonna go, and where all the characters are going to be. And to get you theorizing and stuff:

 

Especially Wrath and Ed's group.

 

So that's all, for now. Again, sorry for not updating. School is just really being a fucking pain in the ass, we've all been there. 

 

GOTTA BLAST-


	18. Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *on a podium in front of an entire country* According to all known laws of aviation, Greed did not deserve any of this. He is too precious, pure, and gay to be experiencing this. The author of course, makes him suffer anyway. Because she does not care and completely ignores the fact that there is so much trauma you can cause for someone until you have to draw the line.
> 
> Also, can I just tell you how GAY this story is gonna get?

"Greed!" Ed called out, hoping to get a response. "Stop running off, would you?!" It was still night, but the slums of Kanama were back up on electricity. If it weren't for Hoenheim and Al, he couldn't guarantee that he would be alive. Ed didn't even know why he was looking for Greed, he was the kind who could find his way back no matter what, that was the kind of man he was.

 

What was the point?

 

Based on what he had learned the last few months, Greed had been suffering from nightmares. He also, even though Homunculi didn't need to eat, had been starving himself. He also hasn't slept, one time, he woke up in the middle night because he just couldn't sleep. And when he looked outside the tent, Greed was sitting down next to his. He wasn't talking to Ling or doing anything to keep him occupied, just staring off into space. Sometimes Ed would wake himself up, just to see if he was there.

 

It was clear that he didn't want any help, and he didn't want anyone to feel pity for him. He was dealing with it the hard way, but that was his own fault because he chose that way. Even though he was the 'Incarnation of Greed', he still had pride. And there wasn't anything he could do about that, if anything, Ed had more pride than him. It was kind of pointless to worry about him But when all is said and done, at the end of the day...They're not that different from each other.

 

They're both after something they have wanted for a long time, and they both will do absolutely anything to obtain it. They also have an ego, though, Greed's is a little more apparent than Ed's. They both have father's, who they both hate. And they both have lost at least somebody who they at least cared about.

 

Whether they wanted to admit it or not.

 

Greed poked his head out from behind the tree and rolled his eyes. "Great, juuuusst great." He muttered. He pressed his back up against the tree, if he didn't have success in finding him, then he'd leave him alone. "Stupid brat..." He turned his head and he almost head-butted Ed's.

 

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Greed jumped back a little, almost tripping and falling over. "Jesus Christ!! When the hell did you-..don't sneak up on me like that!" Ed was already straddling him and cracking his knuckles. "Every punch you get is one letter out of the sentence you said! Let's see...ten punches!"

 

"Oh would you look at that, the kid can count." Greed mumbled. "Now get off of me." Ed bit his lip in anger, and raised his fist up in the air, and with one hard swing, he punched him in the face. "That's one!" He felt satisfied, finally getting out his anger from the past few months. He raised his fist again and landed another blow. "That's two-" Ed's smirk faded when he noticed that his fist actually didn't hurt as much.

 

He wasn't using his ultimate shield.

 

His face was bruised, and a trail of blood ran down from his nose. He wasn't even regenerating, he was just laying there. Letting himself get punched, not even saying anything. No sarcastic remarks, no jerkass smiling. He was just laying there.

 

"Hey.." Ed mumbled. "Snap out of it.." Greed was totally expressionless, not a single sign of emotion. Like he was some zombie. "Hello??" Was he even listening to him? He grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him upwards. "What's wrong with you?? Are you really just going to let me beat you up?" Greed didn't even blink, he just gazed at him. "...You're not even gonna fight back?"

 

"Why should I?" He spoke like he was reading off a script for the very first time. "I don't care anymore. Hit me, kick me, it doesn't matter. It's not like it's stopping me."

 

"From what?! Ruling the world?! Follow your dreams and what not, you're just going to let yourself get hurt?!"

 

"But why not?" Greed's lips formed into a small smile. "It's the only way I can get what I want, nothing holding you back. Aha...what am I even saying? I'm Greed, I can't believe I haven't thought of this sooner." Red sparks popped and cracked around his face, and his wounds started to fade away. And his smile got wider, and creepily cheerful. "I don't even feel the pain anymore."

 

"..."

 

"Well? What are you-h-hey!!" He found himself being slung over Ed's shoulder like a sack of whatever, despite his small size, Ed was pretty damn strong. "Put me down! Right now!" He yelled. "Guess what, princess?" 

 

_'...Prin..cess?...PRINCESS?!'_

 

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" He barked at Ed, who couldn't care less about how angry he was. Maybe it was because Greed was being a hypocrite and he kind of deserved to be ignored. "We're going back to Darius and Heinkel, whether you like it or not, princess..I like that name." Ed smirked. "From now on, your new name is princess."

 

"Princess my ASS!" He started banging his fists on his back. "Let me go!!" 

 

"You know, you're actually not as heavy the last time I carried you..." He mumbled. "I don't care, put me down, now!"

 

"Princesses are pretty easy to carry, I mean, you've got the hair, now all we need is a pretty dress and you are good to go!" 

 

"Ed, if you don't put me down in five seconds, so help you  _god-"_

 

"Wait a minute! If Ling's a prince, that means you're the princess! When's the wedding?"

 

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"

 

"Nope."

 

Greed felt Ed's hands let go of his body, and he didn't have any time to react as his body slid off of Ed's shoulder and he hit his head on the ground. "Damnit Ed, when I say 'Put me down', I don't mean 'Drop me'!" The younger one shrugged and started walking off like nothing happened. "Come on, princess. Let's go." 

 

"I said," He scrambled to his feet. "Don't call me princess!" 

 

"You call me brat, I call you princess." He turned around and started walking backwards. "It's only fair!" He called out. "Fair?! I'm Greed, as long as the odds are in my favor, then yes it's-" He was going to continue his sentence, but Ed disappeared from his range of vision. "Fair..." 

 

 _"You are so naive, Greed."_ Ling's voice made him want to cringe, but he was struck with confusion before he could. "...Naive? Ha! That does it, that is the most funniest joke I ever heard from you!" He threw his head back, laughing. 

 

 _"..That wasn't a joke, Greed. I'm serious."_ His laughter came to an abrubt stop. "...You have got to be kidding me." He mumbled.  _"I'm not kidding you, you heard me. You're naive. Do I have to spell it out for you? You. Are. Nai-"_

 

"How the hell dare you?!" He snarled at him, unexpectedly. "I am Greed the Avaricious, and I want the world,  _the_ world! Every single damn person, and thing on it! Ever since I was born, I've had this hole, in my soul, that has been eating me from the inside out since I can remember, and the world itself is going to fill it! And yet...you're calling me naive?!" His outburst caused Ling to step back in the room of souls. But he wasn't afraid, not in the slightest.

 

_"I still stand by what I said. You're naive, whether you like it or not. And why are you being so defensive about it?"_

 

"Because I-...how could you even think that in the first place ? Me? Naive??" He had no clue how Ling came up with such a ridiculous statement. Or maybe he did have a clue.

 

Maybe he knew this whole entire time. 

 

"There is no way that me, Greed the Avaricious, is 'naive'! I have never heard such a crazy thing in my life!" He said, confidently. Ling chuckled and copied him. _"Well guess what, Princess? I've got a challenge, just for you."_

 

"Not you too!!...and I'm listening. What's this challenge that's supposedly 'just for me'?" He asked intriguingly. _"If you can figure out what I mean when I say that you are naive, then I'll give you complete control of this body."_ The words 'control' and 'body' stood out the most for him. "...No switching?"

 

_"No switching. Only if it's an absolute emergency."_

 

"Well I'll be damned, pissant!" Greed flashy a toothy grin. "Consider your challenge accepted! I'll finally have some power!" Ling sighed, Greed's on and off arrogant attitude was still something to get used to. _"Power corrupts, Greed."_

 

"You know what? You're right. Power corrupts. But absolute power..." Ling swore he saw a flicker of light in Greed's eyes.

 

"Is kinda neat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teacher: Okay. I'm very concerned. *points to my wallscreen who is GreedLing* Who IS that??
> 
> Me: My child. About yay high, is very gay, but we haven't had the talk yet.
> 
> Teacher: 
> 
> Me:
> 
> Teacher:
> 
> Me:
> 
> Teacher: *leans in* Just how gay are we talkin'-


	19. Cigarette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all might have been wondering:  
> "Kat, where the fuck have you been??"
> 
> Well, funny story actually. I got food poisoning, or the stomach flu. Idk which one but it made me puke a lot. I was so nauseous for the whole week, I could not think straight at all. Therefore, I couldn't write the chapter. Buuuuuut I'm better now : ) 
> 
> Btw this is a filler chapter, but it gets interesting and depressed towards the end.

Greed woke up with the same feeling he had the day before, tired, grumpy, and feeling like he couldn't breathe. For a second, he forgot where he was. "Young lord, are you okay?" He noticed a young female voice next to him, which was weird. He didn't remember hitting it off so good with a lady that he slept with her, nor did he remember even being in the tent. "..Huh? Who're you?"

 

"...It's you! Homunculus!" He felt a sharp tug on his collar, and his face met with a young Xingese girl, around fifteen to sixteen at the most. Her deep brown, almost black eyes were staring down on him menacingly. "Give back the young lord's body!"

 

"Wait..what?" He mumbled. "I just woke up-"

 

"Are you plaguing the young lord's mind with nightmares?! Answer me!" She was furious, but he couldn't think of anything he had did wrong. "Look, lady. I don't know who you are, but can you let go of me? I'd hate to damage a pretty face like yours." She didn't even bat an eye, she was sure set on getting this 'young lord' of hers. _"Greed, switch with me, now!"_ He didn't have the endurance to put up with him, so it wasn't going to hurt him to let this one slide. 

 

"..Lan Fan, it's me!" She instantly recognized the voice and felt a rush of relief. "Young lord, I'm so grateful that you are okay.." Ling smiled at her, she was the one he could truly count on, no matter what. And the one who was always by his side, but the cost to keep living by him costed her arm. He noticed her automail arm, and felt began to feel guilty. If only he had protected her, maybe she wouldn't have had to suffer. "Lan Fan..your arm..."

 

"Don't worry, young lord. I'm doing fine with it. Is the homunculus giving you nightmares? We need to figure out how to extract him from-"

 

"I'm not the one having the nightmares, Lan Fan." She tilted her head a little in confusion. 

 

"It's him."

 

* * *

 

 

The young blonde watched Greed from inside his tent, particularly bored. _'How long has he been there?'_ He thought. When Ed woke up, the fire was just about snuffed out, and Greed was sitting outside saying things, probably to Ling. And he was too tired to even pay attention to what he was saying, but then it turned to mumbling. And after a few words, he went silent. He couldn't see his face because he was to the right of him, and that just happened to be the side where his black bangs were.

 

He should have been getting sleep, because of The Promised Day. The day that would or would not, be his last. The day that could potentially be a literal blood bath of the innocent, the thought of it was unnerving. But they did have a chance, he didn't know it like the percentages of each components to make a human being, but he had an idea. Not only did they have Briggs military, but they had Mustang's team, a homunculus who wants him dead as much as they do, Scar himself, and the one who knows about Father's origins and how to stop him.

 

 _'I can't believe I'm wasting sleep time just to watch this dumbass do nothing.'_ He narrowed his eyes at Greed, who was entirely still. But he was breathing, because he could see his breath, since it was freezing cold outside. Staring at him was not going to do anything good for him, but he had this small desire. A small desire to just scold him and force him back into the tent. And that desire was burning up as time went by, Ed, being the impatient guy he was, gave up on trying to ignore it. He stood up and trudged over to Greed.

 

"Hey, Greed, what the hell are you doing up this late?" No answer. Was he _that_ mad at him for the 'Princess' thing that he was ignoring him? Now he was just being a hypocrite, due to how many times Ed himself has been called any nicknames that imply that he was short. Ed crouched down and faced Greed's side. "Hello? Anybody in there?" He lightly pushed him with his index finger, and as if he was a domino, Greed tipped over and hit the ground.

 

It was barely even a push.

 

"...Greed?" He tilted his head to the side. Then it dawned on him. _'Oh you have got to be kidding me, his greedy ass is asleep.'_ He leaned down to get a closer look at his face, he was definitely asleep. _'What was the point in staying outside? Is he some nature freak?'_ You'd think a guy like him would snore so loud that even Ishval could hear it. But surprisingly, he was pretty quiet.

 

 _'..Oh yeah...the nightmares.'_ He could see where he was coming from. When him and Al lost their bodies, he had nightmares for a month. And even now, sometimes he'd have a nightmare or two. So no sleep, equals no nightmares. That's what most people did, so really, could he blame him? Ed sighed tiredly, and carefully stepped around Greed, making sure not to step on him. Then he hooked his hands under his armpits, (because he was too tired to pick him up) and started to drag him into the tent.

 

"Wait till I tell Winry about this.." He mumbled to himself. He laid him down on the rough bedding, and then looked down on him.

 

He was shivering.

 

You could barely see it, but Greed was definitely shivering from the cold. Last time he checked, homunculi weren't affected by the cold. Was it because he was in Ling's body? Or was it some other weird explanation? He didn't know, and he didn't care. It was just too sad to watch, his skin was even pale. Ed didn't want to leave him like that, he would have never forgiven himself. Swallowing his pride, he crouched down again and tugged the covers from under Greed's body, then threw them on him. They seemed to land perfectly on top of him.

 

"Scratch that, I'm never telling Winry about this."

 

* * *

 

 

"The homunculus is having nightmares?" She asked, quite surprised at the revelation. "Yes, he's already mad at us for talking about it, but his mood might get better if you called him Greed. And there's something I've got to tell you." His eyes were showing, meaning that the message was very serious. "What is it, young lord?"

 

"In the night-"

 

 _"Dream."_  Greed muttered in annoyance.  _"_ _It was a dream, Ling."_

 

"...Dream, there was an explosion, that..blew someone up. There was a figure, I'm sure of it. It was inside this..underground place but it wasn't that big, it was just enough to mimic a grenade. And you were there..yeah, you were definitely there." He was trying to remember other things, but he only wanted to stick to the main point. "I'm thinking you threw that grenade."

 

"I don't mean to object, young lord. But wasn't it just a dream? It's impossible for what a person saw in a dream to come true..." 

 

"But that's exactly what happened. Remember when Gluttony was killed by Pride? Me and him knew that before it even happened because he had a dream about it. And he had another dream when we fought with Pride the first time around. It sounds crazy, I know. But as crazy as it is, it's true.." He lowered his head in deep thought. "Did his father give him some new power? Or did he have it all along...?"

 

"Young lord, what happened in the first fight with Pride?" When she had first sensed Greed, she almost gagged because she couldn't stand the awful, dark, sickening Qi radiating from his body. But it felt different now. It felt a little...sad, more so, that the atmosphere around him was just plain depressing. "...Long story short-"

 

_"Ling, switch with me."_

 

"No." Ling stated confidently. "If she wants to know, I'm going to tell her."

 

_"Ling, I said, switch with me."_

 

"No, I'm telling her whether you like it or-"

 

 _"I said SWITCH WITH ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"_ Ling flinched a little at his outburst, he was absolutely seething with anger. He should have known that this was a sensitive thing to talk about, but he never thought that he would be that mad over it. "...Lan Fan, I'm sorry, but..Greed wants control, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

 

"But young lord-" His eyes that rarely opened said it all, so she closed her mouth, preventing her from saying anything. They went back to being squinted but just for barely a second, and they opened up wide enough to see the iris. She didn't need her Qi to sense a very important detail about him. What was the detail? He was absolutely pissed. "What the hell are you lookin' at, lady?" He said, with no sign of empathy in his tone of voice.

 

"..."

 

"Well?! Are you just gonna sit here and stare at me for the rest of the goddamn day?!" He snarled at her. "Get the hell out of my tent, woman!" Lan Fan was slightly intimidated by his rather blunt and rude words. "Hello?! Are you even listening to me?! You damn bitch-" Greed was instantly hit with a rush of regret, never, had he ever, called a woman a bitch. He never believed in calling women 'whore' or 'slut', or 'bitch'. He knew that those kinds of words could deplete their confidence and their overall personality. So why did he call her, a girl that he had just met, a bitch?

 

"I-..."

 

 "Listen up, homunculus. Call me whatever you want, I could care less. I devoted my life to protect Ling Yao of the Yao clan, and mark my words, I will not let a arrogant, stuck-up bastard like you get in the way of my duties as his bodyguard, nor will I let you harm him in anyway. Do you understand, homunculus?" Greed let the silence linger, but doing that just caused dull pain to occur in his chest. It was simply a horrible feeling.

 

He had a comeback on the tip of his tongue, but Lan Fan gave him no time to. "Don't talk to me unless you're the young lord." She muttered as she stomped out of the tent. "..."

 

_"Congratulations Greed, or should I say, homunculus? Because this is not the Greed I know! This is not the Greed that I've spent two months with, the Greed that I know, would never call a girl something like that! She did absolutely nothing wrong! And when I just started to think you were different from the rest of the homunculi, that you had actual compassion, but I guess I was wrong!!"_

 

"..." 

 

_"So tell me, are you satisfied with what you've done-"_

 

"Satisfied?" He mumbled softly, keeping his head faced towards the floor. "Am I...satisfied?" He asked, but more clearly. He steadily, almost methodically reached into his back pocket and pulled out a narrow cylinder shaped stick. When did Greed get a cigarette?  _"When the hell did you get that?"_ He ignored the prince and then stuffed his hand back into his pocket, still slowly but more rushed. When he opened his hand back up, he was holding a square metal lighter.  _"And when the hell did you get that??"_

 

Greed flipped open the cap and put the tip of the cigarette in his mouth, he put his thumb on the spark wheel and applied force to it, it took him two or three times to ignite the flame, which he held it to the other end of the cancer stick. He took a drag, blowing out smoke from his mouth. He didn't care if Ling complained, his body wouldn't be hurt by it. 

 

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and focused on the singed tip that had some deep orange dots on it, producing smoke. He let the cigarette tip over, and now was facing downward toward his skin, specifically the palm of his hand. "..." He seemed to be so fixated on it, but for what? Without any hesitation, he raised the cigarette about an inch up...

 

And jabbed it into his skin.

 

_"Greed, what are you-..."_

 

He could feel the cigarette melting the skin in that singular spot, making a deep, nasty indent. The smoked smelled like burning flesh, in this case, his. He twisted it a little, as if putting it out in a ashtray, taking every single ounce of the pain personally.  _"Greed-"_

 

"You want to know if I'm satisfied?" The homunculus lit the tip of the cigarette again, with anger and regret flickering in his eyes. "No matter how many henchmen I have, and no matter how many holes I put in my skin..." He aimed the lit part of the cigarette to his wrist.

 

"I will never be satisfied."

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: He will never be satisfied! 
> 
> Me and Friend: Satisfied, satisfied, SATISFIIIIIIIIEEEEDD!!
> 
> Some random person who gets what we're singing: HISTORY HAS IT'S EEYYYYYYEEES OOONNN YOOUUUUU!
> 
> Ensemble behind us: NONSTOP!


	20. Mermaid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gather around kids, it's STORY TIME WITH HOENHEIM!

"Alright, is everyone ready to go?" Ed called out to the group, they all decided that they were going to leave the tents there, because it would be just dead weight for them. All of the tents were packed up, except one. That one just happened to be Greed's, who was still in the tent at that moment. Ed knew that if they waited any longer, one of them was bound to get annoyed, if anything, himself would be the first. "Hey, princess!"

 

Ed leaned in towards the opening of the tent. "Get up! We've gotta go!" He waited for a few moments, but the snarky, and unusually spunky homunculus was not showing his face. "Greed, you can't be in there forever." He waited for half a minute or so, till he lost his patience. "That's it." Ed pushed the flap of the tent opening to the side, letting him get a clear view of Greed, who was, doing  _something._ He was hiding his hand under the blanket, and it smelled horrible.

 

"Come on Greed, you're holding everybody up. And what's that smell?" It was a mix of smoke and something else that he couldn't put his finger on. Greed looked at him and didn't give a response, he was certainly up to something. "Are you coming or what?"

 

"...Huh? Oh, uh..yeah. I'll be right out." He mumbled. "Good, and answer me when I'm calling you, got it?"

 

"Yeah.." 

 

"...You okay? You look a little pale." He noticed the color from Greed's face was slightly drained, his expression was no better. It was like he was a corpse, but his eyes were open when the life was taken out of him. A dead man walking.

 

Greed's eyes shifted downward slowly, so slowly that it seemed like it was painful just to move. Not physically, but mentally. "Do I?" He mumbled again, he now had a habit of doing that. "It happens to everyone..it'll go away eventually." Ed put aside the discoloration of his face and focused on the smell. "Then what's that smell? You burning something in here?"

 

"...Yeah." Him saying 'yeah' was getting kind of annoying at this point. "..What are you even burning? It's making me nauseous."

 

"..." He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off short. "You guys are takin' forever!" Darius shouted. "Oh will you just wait a second!?" Ed spat back at him. "Come on, am I gonna have to drag you?"

 

"N-"

 

"Times up!" Greed felt a sharp tug on his arm, and realized that Ed was slowly dragging him out of the tent, but he wasn't finished regenerating. Homunculi could control their regeneration, but for some, it was a little harder. Like Gluttony, once he was damaged, he would automatically start healing. He could never slow down his regeneration skills. It was the opposite for Greed, though it was a little easier for him to control. 

 

Sometimes, out of randomness, or just forgetfulness, it would take a little while for him to start healing again. And this was one of those times where he had gained control over it, and he wanted each and every one of his nerves to be wracked with the pain of his flesh getting seared. There was still one or two burn marks, and if Ed saw them, he would definitely question him.

 

"Let go of me!" He was panicking, what if Ed noticed them? And why was he worrying so much if he did see them? He quickly, yet sloppily tried to put his hand in his pocket, but in the end, it seemed like a hopeless effort. And as if right on cue, his hand started to produce red electric-like sparks, making it visible to see. Ed let go of his arm slowly.

 

"Oh don't tell me that you cut yourself in the freakin' tent." 

 

"..No." He couldn't tell him lie, that's not how Greed worked. Even if he did, Ed would probably see through him. He had never lied before, so who's to say he'd be good at it? "If the tent is murderous, we have a problem." Ed chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. As usual, it wasn't working. "...But I mean, tents can't kill. Unless it really messed up your hand." Ed leaned in closer to get a look at his hand.

 

Greed panicked.

 

Ed was shoved back with an abnormal amount of force, almost falling out of the tent. He grunted in pain, and shot Greed a glare. "What the hell was THAT for?!" Greed broke out into a cold sweat, Ed was short, but sometimes he was just plain scary. "I-..." He had no time to think, he rushed out of the tent and didn't look back. "Let's go. Now." By the time everyone comprehended his order, he was already starting to fade out of sight.

 

"...Well." Hoenheim blinked. "Isn't he the proactive one?"

 

* * *

 

 

"GREED!" Ed's voice echoed as he angrily stomped towards the group. "YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" He was seething, trying his hardest not to throw the nearest rock at the taller one. He hated it when Greed did things like that so suddenly, and then act like nothing happened. He was just about to pull on Greed's shoulder but someone pulled him back by his collar.

 

"I don't think that's a wise choice." Heinkel pushed up his glasses with his middle finger. "If you haven't noticed, he's not in a good mood today. I suggest that you leave him alone until after today is done."

 

"Oh, what's new?!" Ed threw his hands up in the air, out of frustration. "He almost shoved me out of the damn tent and I didn't even do anything! I'm not just going to let him get away with that!"

 

"Edward, let me remind you, that today is The Promised Day. We don't have time for arguing."

 

"Well you know what _else_ we don't have time for? Him being a stuck up ass! He's been like this for almost two months, I've tried to be nice to him but he's just so..difficult to deal with!"

 

"But what is talking about it going to help? It's too late now, there's nothing we can do about it, the only thing we should be worried about besides Father, is him trying to make his little world domination plan a reality. But other than that, we should just leave him alone." He had a good point, there was nothing they could do to take care of Greed and his little 'dilemma'. Ed muttered under his breath, Heinkel had won this round. "Fine.."

 

"So let's say we  _do_ survive today." Zampano stated, breaking the silence in the other group, because Ed and Heinkel were separated from the main group. "What are ya'll gonna do?"

 

"I'm probably going to go back to my home town. See my wife, and my little one." Jerso smiled slightly, thinking about his loved ones. "You've got a kid?" Darius raised a brow. "Yeah, a little girl. She's a pain in the ass at first, but at the end of the day...she's the best thing that ever happened to me..besides my wife, of course. And fairy tales like Jack and Jill and the Little Mermaid will get burnt into your mind-"

 

"The little  _what_?" Greed, being the nosy person he was, also happened to hear the conversation. "You don't know what a mermaid is? Never even heard of one?"

 

"Nope."

 

"It's like this thing, I guess. It's half fish and half woman. They're supposed to look really pretty and stuff." The image of this so called 'mermaid' Greed was creating in his mind, sure did not look pretty. "They sound ugly to me.." He muttered. "Well I mean, from the waist down, they have a fish tail. Everything above is a woman."

 

"The story's actually pretty interesting." Hoenheim mentioned. "Hoenheim." Ed glared at his father, which he didn't even consider him as a relative. "No-"

 

"So once upon a time.." Hoenheim started after clearing his throat. "Too late."

 

"To put it short, there was this young mermaid. And she fell in love with a human, though she only watched him from a distance, because she was afraid that he wouldn't like her because of her species. So she goes to this witch, and this witch grants her legs to walk on land. But on the downside, she can't talk. And every step she took, felt like she was stepping on glass. Plus, she had a limited time to get the man to fall in love with her or else she'll die."

 

_"Does her avarice rival yours, Greed?"_

 

"...Maybe." If she was real, she would have been a real interesting girl. He had always been intrigued in the type of people that were similar to him. But he would never sacrifice something that he already owned for something else.

 

Or would he? 

 

"So then she and the human become friends, but just as things were starting to get good, he falls in love with another woman. And she can't say anything because she lost her voice. Ultimately, him and the woman get married. It was the last day before she would die. But then her sisters come and give her a dagger, if she kills him with it, she would regain her tail. If she didn't, she would perish." 

 

"...So? What happens next?" Greed asked, more curious to see what happened than he should have been. "Did she kill him or not?"

 

"She didn't. Instead, she walked into the ocean, and turned into sea foam. Basically, she died." He said bluntly. Greed blinked a couple times, trying to comprehend the ending of the story. "What?? She died? That's it?" 

 

"That's how the true story goes. The ones that they tell children are where she lives and she gets the guy. But I like the original better, it teaches a good lesson to children and adults alike." 

 

"How is _that_ a good lesson? 'Don't go after what you want or else you'll die'? I may not be in expert, but you know what I am an expert in? Greed. And I say that she had every right to go after him. What ticks me off, is the fact that she died. She didn't deserve that at all." He forgot how good debating felt, especially since he's very opinionated.

 

"It's not that she wanted to be with the human, she just didn't think of the consequences before making her wish to become human. It's a common thing that happens, when you want something, and you don't get what you bargained for. People should know what they're getting into before they decide to do something similar to what she did." Hoenheim hoped, that maybe Greed would get the message. Ed had told him about what had been going on the past few months.

 

He wasn't very surprised.

 

 _"He's right, Greed. She was naive, simple as that."_ Ling said, also trying to send a message to him.

 

"..."

 

_"Ahem, like, very naive."_

 

"Okay, she was naive. I get it." Ling groaned, placing his palm on his forehead, and mumbling curse words in Xingese. Did he really forget about the deal they made? Or was he just playing dumb? "Actually. Can I ask you somethin'?" Ling sighed and looked up from the crimson colored souls.  _"What?"_

 

"...Do you think she got what she wanted?"

 

_"..That's a good question. I personally think that-"_

 

"Hold that thought." Greed had his wine-like colored eyes set on Ed, who was muttering under his breath, and looked like a child who didn't get their way. "Hey. Ed." He said, loud enough for him to hear. His voice was more at a lower volume, so being loud almost felt unnatural. Ed glared at him and rolled his eyes. "What."

 

"...Look, I'm not good at apologies, but..my bad, okay?"

 

"..."

 

"Also, to explain the smell...I burnt myself." Ed seemed to be surprised, the previous Greed, was a smoker. So unless he forgot how to use a lighter, him getting burnt was surprising and unusual. "Really badly.." Ed clicked his tongue, the memory of the smell coming back to him. "And here I thought you were good with lighters." He mumbled.

 

Greed let out a painful chuckle. "You have no idea.."

 

"...Accidents happen, you know?"

 

"Yeah.."

 

Accidents happen.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, Greed didn't really lie. He told the truth, he just didn't mention the fact that it was on purpose.


	21. Noose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roses are red  
> Violets are blue  
> Greed needs therapy  
> And so do you
> 
> WARNING: This contains of disturbing descriptions, and Hoenheim roasting, viewer discretion is advised.

_"W-...Where am I?"_ Greed's eyes shifted from left to right, it was cold, uncomfortably cold. And clammy. The sky was smothered with grey clouds, and the moisture in the air was giving a hint that it was going to rain. He was outside, in the same field of grass that resided in his previous 'dreams'. But the aura about it was so different than before. He wasn't wearing his long coat, and his hands were cuffed together.

 

He could have broken out, his homunculus abilities gave him enhanced strength, including his shield. He could have just gave it a tug and the chains that connected the cuffs would have broke. But he didn't. 

 

Why?

 

"..." He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It seemed like he had lost his voice, it didn't matter if he yelled his head off, no sound would come out. As he tried his hardest to get even a small squeak out, he felt hands roughly grab both of his arms and started forcing him to walk forward, he looked back to see who was grabbing him. Two officers, wearing the standard Amestrian military uniform, both male but...their faces. Their faces were black, like a bottomless hole, it resembled a pitch void.

 

 _"What's up with their faces...?"_ He felt the two men shove him slightly, he must have absentmindedly stopped in his tracks. He was forced up the wooden stairs that led to some type of wooden platform that was risen about twelve or fourteen feet in the air, more higher he walked up, the more he could see the people standing in front of it. Could he even call them people?

 

All of their faces weren't there, every single one of them, just complete black. And it wasn't just a crowd, there was so many of them that they were covering the whole field, as far as he could see. The atmosphere, the faces that weren't there, his voice, the more he started to think about them, the more he was confused and almost freaked out. _"What the hell is going on?!"_

 

He turned his attention back to the front, and all he had to do, was look down for his heart to almost stop beating for a second. In the middle of the platform, was a trap door. And something was loosely hanging on top of it.

 

_"...Is that a noose?"_

 

The rope was tied to the posts that formed a squared, hovering high over him. Just as his stomach was about drop, a toothy grin crept up on his face as he thought of something. _"These idiots! They can't hurt me, I'm a homunculus! They can hang me all they want, it won't do jack!"_ He would have laughed loudly, yelling at them for how stupid they were, but he lost his voice so that option was down the drain.

 

The men forced him towards it, so that way he was standing directly behind it. He heard footsteps, coming up the stairs. Slow, yet loud and booming footsteps which was very odd. As the man came into view...

 

He could have swore his heart really did stop this time.  _"It's him again!"_ The man stood in front of the people, like a soldier standing at attention, but he looked at ease. It was if he was content with the events. "This man is responsible for the deaths of Dolchetto, Martel, Roa, and Bido."

 

 _"Wait...what?"_ Greed's eyes widened. A breeze hit him softly, the cold biting his skin.  _"Responsible...? For-..that's..."_

 

"And the punishment for him is death by hanging." The man slowly turned around and gazed at him with a soft, and gentle expression. "Do you have any last words, Greed?" He felt helpless, not being able to yell out. And why he wasn't breaking the handcuffs, he would have been on his merry way by now. So why?  _"No..no! Get it together...you''ll regenerate, he can't kill you, he-"_

 

"Then why are you shaking, Greed?" Every nerve was on alert, he felt like he couldn't breathe. Not only was he shaking, but his teeth were chattering in sync. A large leather belt was being strapped tightly around his abdomen and another one around his ankles. "Why are you shaking?"

 

_"Because I..."_

 

"You know that this won't kill you. You  _loathe_ the fact that after this, you'll still be alive. Knowing that you didn't get the punishment you deserved for killing them." 

 

_"What?! I-..no! Bido, yes but...I didn't kill them, it was Bradley!"_

 

"I thought you said you never told lies, Greed. You killed them, you're the reason why they're dead, quit lying to yourself!"

 

_"But I-..What the hell do you know?!"_

 

"And don't tell me you're going to pull the 'possessions' excuse again, that's absolutely pathetic. And the answer to your question? I know enough." The officer standing beside put a bag over his head, made out of black cloth. It was just the darkness and him now.  _"Stop messing with my head!"_  He mentally yelled, almost desperately. He wanted to just rip out his own hair in frustration, or slam it against a wall. "I _didn't kill them! How can you even hear me?!"  
_

 

"I'm a figment of your imagination. But your ignorance caused their death. Like your little friend said, you threw them away like trash. You're not shaking because you're going to die," Greed felt the rope being lower onto his neck, he flinched slightly when the officer tightened the noose. "You're shaking because you're going to live, you're scared."

 

_"..."_

 

"It's about time you realize what you really want." The man slowly walked towards him, and he rested his hands on his shoulders. He slightly jerked him forward and leaned in, so he could clearly hear him. "Did you know that out of all of the homunculi, you're my favorite?" That was enough to send chills down Greed's spine. "And here's a little hint...Pride broke his promise."

 

Pride?

 

 _"What does..Pride have to do with this?"_ He let go of him, walking away one step at a time.  _"You bastard..."_ Each step was like his own heartbeat.  _"Don't you dare leave! HEY! STOP! COME BACK HERE!_ " The sound of a small ticking clock was making it more excruciating to not being able to say...anything.  _"WHERE ARE YOU?! COME BACK! HEY!!"_

 

What was the point in even trying?

 

_"COME BACK HERE! Come..!...Come back.."_

 

* * *

 

 

"Come back..." Greed mumbled in his sleep, squirming a little as his head was resting on  _someone's_ shoulder. "...Is he really still sleepin'?" Jerso glanced at him, feeling a bit of pity. They've only known each other for barely two days and he already figured out that one, homunculi could sleep. Two, that they _clearly_ don't get enough sleep. And three...their favorite color is black.

 

"He's been like that lately." Darius mentioned, Heinkel showed agreement with a nod. "What's he saying?"

 

"...Come back." Hoenheim answered. Guess who that someone was? Greed was clinging onto his back, and Hoenheim supported him by holding his legs.

 

Basically, a piggyback ride.

 

Greed awoke with a mix of a gasp and a wheeze, and started coughing uncontrollably. Hoenheim became somewhat confused. Homunculi...don't just start randomly coughing. That was just weird, even for a man like him who has seen a lot of things. "..." He patiently waited until his coughing fit was over, because he had some questions to ask. "..Where.." Greed mumbled softly, looking around. "We're in the tunnels that lead to the bearded bastard." Ed said, not bothering to ask if he was okay. 

 

"W-What? I was out for that long..?" There was that feeling of embarrassment again, bubbling in the pit of his stomach. Everyone would now be wondering why he was sleeping on such an important day. And how he was coughing up a storm. The news was circulating, everyone practically had a clue about what was going on. 

 

Greed absentmindedly rested his head on the unknown object, which was really comfortable. Speaking of which...

 

"...HOLY- Hey! Let me go old man!!" Greed struggled out of Hoenheim's grip on his legs. The blonde glanced back at him with an emotionless expression "..You're just a feisty one, aren't you?" He said, nonchalantly. "Put me down, now!" He demanded. Hoenheim simply let his arms come down to his sides, causing Greed's grip to loosen and slip off of him, falling straight down on his bottom (which kind of hurt). "Ow! I said put me down, are you deaf?!"

 

"I thought you said 'Drop me on the floor'. Whoops." He shrugged, not feeling an inch of pity. Greed got to his feet and gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Why the hell would I say that?" He barked back at him. "You're lucky, I could have thought you meant something way worse."

 

"Huh?"

 

"I could have thought you said to put you down like the dog you are."

 

"..." Greed's face slowly contorted from shock to anger. "...Just kidding." Hoenheim flashed a small smile. "..You've got some nerve.." The raven-haired said impulsively, his ultimate shield just itching to come across his skin and take a stab at him. "What? Can't take a joke?"

 

"You little-"

 

"Everyone, let's split up into two teams." Ed announced. "One goes right, one goes left." The group turned heads towards each other, all Greed knew was that Lan Fan would stay with him, because wherever the 'prince' went, she followed behind. "I can take Greed." Hoenheim suggested, but the other was quick to disagree. "What? No way-"

 

"Decisions have been made, princess."

 

"Pfft-" Hoenheim was trying hold in his snickers. Greed glared sharply at him. "Fine.." He grumbled under his breath. "I'm coming with." Lan Fan said. "The rest of us will go left, and we'll meet if we can." Ed shifted his eyes from the homunculus to his father. "Right, see ya later." 

 

Everyone agreed with the plan and headed their separate ways. Greed shoved his hands in his pockets in deep thought. _'So now we're here..the problem is, how am I gonna get immortality now? I don't know how this is going to play out, I don't even know the full extent of his powers."_

 

"..Hey Ling."

 

_"..."_

 

"You've been awfully quiet." Ling seemed to be in deep thought as well, half the time, he forgot that whatever happened in his dreams, Ling was fully aware of it. _"Well I dunno. Maybe it's because it was just a little bit unsettling to hear your neck snap. And because what that man said isn't true."_

 

"..."

 

 _"And you know what the worst part is, you really do. But you're too prideful to spit it out so I'll do it for you."_ Ling's eyelids flicked upwards, his black eyes piercing through Greed's soul.

 

_"You're starting to believe him."_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think that was fucked up, just you wait. I have some fucked up shit planned, and I may or may not cry over it.
> 
> Sorry for not updating for a while, I forgot that I had a job to do and I started writing this other story that doesn't have to do anything with fma but if you like:  
> -Seven deadly sins  
> -Hot guys  
> -Adventure  
> -Female main character  
> -Some angst  
> -Not necessarily a reverse harem  
> -LGBT  
> Then when I publish it, you should check it out on Quotev. Other than that, hope you like this chapter, please review and gimme kudos. Byyeeee :3


	22. Hallucinating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, the reason why I wasn't able to update was because I'm in band and there's something called MPA, one band from each school where I live has to play 3 songs for judges and get evaluated. And we were playing really difficult music but we got all superiors : D And it just happened to be on Greed's birthday, so there's your birthday present! 
> 
> Did I make my friends sing happy birthday to Greed after we got the results? NO WAY-
> 
> So I'm here : ) AND HOLY SHIT THIS REACHED OVER 1000 HITS???!
> 
> I am SO happy!! But I fear that my school's gonna be a condescending bitch and block this website like they did to Fanfiction.net and Quotev. Let's hope they don't. Just to let you know ahead of time, it's not going to happen now, but in later chapters, there will be some serious shit. I'm just warning you.

"So." Hoenheim broke the silence between him and Greed. "I want to know about something." Greed shot him a bitter glare. "Just because you want to know, doesn't mean you're going to." He hated even being near him, after his remark earlier about being a 'dog', the sight of him just made him feel not only utterly pissed, but uncomfortable from the get-go. Not just because he insulted him, it was because he looked  _exactly_ like his own dad.

 

Yeah. That one.

 

The one that they were gonna fight in an hour or so, the one that he just simply hated, at the same time, was the reason for Greed's existence. Father, his disturbingly loyal siblings called him, they didn't even know what they were fighting for, and they probably never will..especially Lust and Gluttony. In his eyes, they were nothing but nuisances to him. The memory of Gluttony calling out Lust's name when he died, did he really have that strong of an attachment to her? Even though she was essentially 'Daddy's girl', he could see why. 

 

Half of the reason why he's who he is today was because of her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_"Ugh, how can you stand their crying?" Greed yawned, stretching his arms out while walking along side his sister in the dark and gloomy tunnels. "I just really don't care, they were bound to die anyway. Yet they still had the foolishness to enter the lair." Lust said, her long wavy black hair slightly swinging side to side. "The stupidity of humans..it's almost amazing."_

 

_"But I wish they wouldn't cry and complain as much! I get it, they're scared, but the least they could do is just shut the hell up and let it happen." Lust's small smile faded. "That's not how it works, Greed."_

 

_"Huh?"_

 

_"Humans are strange, they have things and other humans that they love and they hold those things most dear to them..like possessions. Something they have gained, and they don't want to let go for as long as they can. Death can tear them apart from their possessions. The reason why they cry is because they know when they die, they'll never see the things they have again." With the flick of her wrist, her nail extended to a large spear, the sharp tip only a centimeter or two away from his Adam's apple._

 

_"Therefore, when they 'cry and complain', it's simply out of a desire to have those things. Out of greed." She tilted her head to the side slightly. "That's strange..so in the end, you're strange." Greed stared into her lavender eyes, then began to laugh arrogantly, her spear not bothering him in the slightest._

 

_"Ya know what? You're right." He casually turned away from her. "Though I don't have a clue on how you know that, and honestly, I don't want to know."_

_"..I honestly don't know." Greed stopped for a moment. "It was just a theory." She smiled at him deviously as her nail retracted to it's normal size. "..Come on. Let's go back already. And by the way...I'd like you to know this first as my older sister..." He said, clearly sarcastically and bitterly because he didn't even consider her as an acquaintance._

 

_"From now on, everything I own, I'll call them my possessions."_

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Ever since then, he had called everything his possession. He didn't know why, but her words got to him, even if it was just a theory. Sometimes he wondered, what would his name be if it wasn't Greed? Hypocrisy, definitely.

 

"Aren't you being a little bit of a hypocrite?" Hoenheim asked him. "Huh?" His eyes shot towards the blonde. "If you didn't hear me, I'll say it again." Greed rolled his eyes, not wanting to speak to him "I heard you the first time."

 

He said, aggravated by Hoenheim. "You can think whatever you want."

 

"So how long have you been going through your little self realization journey?"

 

"'Self realization'??" He was taken back by his statement. "What the hell are you-" He stopped himself, he wasn't about to break his oath now. "..Look, whatever you think you know about me, you don't."

 

"Is that so? I'm going to have to disagree, and at this point, it's not a wise decision to be on separate terms with me." He pushed up his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You wouldn't want them to know that what happened in the tent wasn't an accident." Greed came to a halt. "..."

 

"Young lord-I mean, homunculus, what is he talking about?" Lan Fan looked at him, suspicious of what happened after she left the tent. "Despite you thinking of them as possessions, you do seem to pay attention deeply to their character. You didn't say it was an accident, because there was a bigger chance he would assume it was, and you wouldn't break your rule of no fibbing."

 

"..."

 

"That's unusual. Someone as impulsive as you would say something quickly."

 

"Shut up." Greed growled at him, baring his teeth. "...I want you two to go back with Edward's group." The homunculus rolled his eyes. "Yes, daddy dearest." He replied sarcastically. "Correction, I'm your uncle." Greed gave him a puzzled look. "What?? You're not my uncle, I'm not even-"

 

"It's kind of confusing, I know. I'll tell you about it later. But you need to go. Right now." He could feel the tension in the air, the 'I have a grudge to settle', kind of tension. "...Fine. Hey, Lan Fan, you heard him." He turned heel, beginning to walk away. "Yes, my lord." She followed right behind him. Meanwhile, Ling was contemplating whether to ask Greed something that has been on his mind since they got into the tunnels.

 

 _"Hey Greed, what did he mean by Pride breaking a promise?"_ Those words struck Greed like a sledgehammer to the back of the head, because he was wondering the same thing to. What promise?? "I don't know..." He tried to dig into the back of his blurry and static mind to make out anything that had to do with a promise. "Promise..wait-"

 

Could he have been talking about THAT promise? The promise that Pride swore to keep?

 

It couldn't have been that one.

 

"I'll tell you later." He said, out of slight panic. Let's say Pride did break his promise, how many people would he have told? Wrath? Or Envy? He imagined what would happen if they knew about it, what would they say? What would they think of him? Usually he wouldn't care about their thoughts because he bitterly hated all of them. But he could feel his own heart pounding in his chest at a fast pace, like it was going to burst right out. And tiny drops of sweat slid down the side of his face.

 

He was having an anxiety attack. 

 

_"Greed? What's wrong?"_

 

"I..." Greed crossed his arms to keep himself from fidgeting. "D-Don't worry about it.." He mumbled, quickly walking through the underground tunnels. That reminded him..Bido's body was here. The fact that his decaying body was still in these grounds just made his stomach drop. "Damn it...damn it all." He cursed under his breath. This sucked..

 

Greed took in a deep breath, replacing the sight of Bido's lifeless eyes with power, money, the world at his fingertips. It made him feel better, but not as much as he thought it would. After at least 200 years of either blindly following the Armageddon king or living in the backstreets, he would finally have what he  _wants._ "Hey, Lan Fan. Do you remember where they went?" ~~  
~~

 

"No, I can't remember exactly which direction." She replied. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm in no mood to play 'Find the Idiots'-"

 

_'Hee hee hee..'_

 

Greed heard a distant, yet audible laughter of a small girl. "Huh?" He turned to the tunnel it was coming from. "..Did you hear that?"

 

 _"Hear what?"_ Ling tilted his head slightly. "It...sounded like a little girl or somethin'. Didn't you hear it?" Greed walked closer towards the tunnel, his curiosity clouding over his judgement. Another innocent chuckle rang out from inside the tunnel.

 

"That! I think someone's in there.." Greed pointed to the tunnel. Ling was simply confused, and Lan Fan was no better. "Homunculus," She didn't want to anger him, though the only reason why she wasn't trying to slice him up was because of Ling.  "I didn't hear anything." Greed gave them a puzzled look, he couldn't really comprehend what they were saying.

 

"Wha-...No, I..I heard it! I swear!" He couldn't believe that they didn't hear the little girl's distant giggles and chuckles. It all seemed so real to him. _"Greed, I think you're just hearing things, because I have not heard one single thing coming from down there."_

 

"You may be hallucinating." His expression went blank for a few short seconds.

 

Hallucinating?

 

He almost, _almost_ , didn't know what to say. "Pfft..Me?" He smirked arrogantly. "Hallucinating? Look, lady, I'm a homunculus. And the last time I checked, we homunculi don't hallucinate."

 

"I don't you've ever checked if homunculi could hallucinate or not." He was taken back by her statement. "..It was an expression." Greed muttered. "Expression or not, there's no fact that states that you can't hallucinate." He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. There was no fact that stated that homunculi were mentally immune too.

 

"I'll prove it to you then! Come on!" He grabbed her hand and yanked her towards the tunnel. "I'm not hallucinating!"  

 

"Y-Young lord, slow down!" She slipped up on the names again, but he decided to let it slide. She looked down, seeing their hands intertwined. _"I'm holding the young lord's hand.."_ She thought to herself.

 

Greed looked to the left, the faint sound of a little girl giggling was coming from where he was looking, but there was nothing there. "Damn it.." He headed around the corner, and the giggles got louder. "We're close." He picked up the pace, eventually seeing a white light at the end of the tunnel. "See! She's in there!" He couldn't wait until he could smirk at her and show her that it wasn't all in his head. But when they finally approached the light...

 

"See? I told you, I'm not-" Greed stopped mid-sentence when he gazed at tons of the grey Mannequin soldiers, blindly swarming around Ed. "Greed?! Lan Fan?!"

 

Ed seemed to have noticed. "I could use a little.." He slashed a soldier with his automail. "Help here!"

 

"Hallucinating..."

 


	23. Colonel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentarse abajo Envy tú gordo puta!
> 
> Put that in google translate.
> 
> I dare you.

"I cannot believe..." Greed slashed a Mannequin soldier's throat. "I'm related to these things!" He kicked one that was crawling towards him. He was getting tired of the huge hoard keeping them from going any further. He hated when he was so close to something, but an obstacle would just smack him across the face with the back of the hand. But a smack is one thing.

 

A literal crowd of deformed homunculi is another.

 

"Well...Sucks to be you!" Ed said as he stabbed a soldier in the chest, shoving him into the others coming towards him to try and slow them down. "Gee, thanks for the support!" Greed shouted at him sarcastically. "I really appreciate it, shorty!" Ed growled, clenching his fists. He almost lost his temper for a second, but he somehow managed to keep himself from yelling his head off.

 

"Oh you are  _very_ welcome, princess!" He smirked arrogantly, making Greed choke up on his incoming words. "Hey! Take that back!" He also hated it when people like Ed knew his weaknesses, come to think of it, he was hating a lot of things recently. And it felt really abnormal, because he never really 'hated' things, so to say. He dislikes them, but he never hates them. There's a first time for everything.

 

"You guys, now is NOT the time!" Heinkel yelled. The two men (immature) men glared at each other. "Fine..." They both muttered bitterly at the same time.  _"Greed, quit being childish, will you?"_

 

"He needs to learn to shut his mouth." 

 

 _"Yeah, and so do you."_ Greed gritted his teeth, anger bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. But he took in a deep breath, and let it out. He asked himself, what was more important? The pissant's irritating words, or everything the world could offer. The latter one, of course. He wanted to stop focusing on the prior events, and start focusing on the 'bright side'. This was the day that he had been waiting for.

 

"You may be smart now, but just you wait. This world is gonna belong to me and me only!" The corners of his lips tugged into a smirk. "Doubt me all you want, I will have what I want! I don't care what it takes!" He stabbed one of them in the face, piercing its eye and breaking through it's skull. "I'm greedy, after all-" One second, everything was perfectly fine. The next, the bottom of his pants caught on fire. Literally.

 

_"Greed, your pants-"_

 

"Huh?"

 

 _"They're on fire."_ Greed raised his brow, feeling offended that he thought of him as a 'Liar, liar, pants on fire'. "Kid, how many times have I told you that I don't tell lies? More than you can count."

 

 _"Greed, I'm not joking. Your pants are on fire."_ He looked down at this black slacks and saw orange flames and growled at the minor inconvenience. "Oh you have gotta be shittin' me..!"  He bent down and patted out the flames. "Great, perfectly good pants have been wasted."

 

_"Greed, you haven't taken a shower in a month. Or washed those pants."_

 

"I was being sarcastic-" Greed gazed at the rings of fire surrounding the mannequin soldiers, like it had a mind of it's own. Usually fire prospers when it catches onto something else and gradually gets bigger and stronger, but it was almost like it had a mind of it's own. Most of the soulless soldiers were at least limbless or burned alive were reduced to ashes. It was a shame that he only noticed it now, but he wondered: Who could have created something like that?

 

Ed looked back at person who caused the fire, with a shocked expression. He hated situations where he had to kill someone, even if they weren't human, or stood for the wrong. "They were the enemy. It had to be done." The raven haired man had an authoritarian voice, so it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Greed eyed the man who was about the same height as him, donning on the blue Amestrian military uniform, with at least 4 badges on his left chest, and the three golden stars on both of his shoulders. He looked pretty important.

 

"Hey...I know that guy." Memories were coming back to him from his short time on the homunculi's side, but his face unexpectedly flushed a light pink, gaining a snicker from Ling.  _"You okay there? Your face is red."_

 

"W-What?? Oh.." Greed awkwardly slipped his hands into his pockets. "Remember the 'encounter' I had with him?"

 

* * *

 

  _"Greed. I have some business to attend to."_ _Wrath looked at Greed with a straight face that seemed impossible to be able to falter. "Please keep watch of my office, I will be back in about fifteen minutes."  The older one leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Sure." He flashed a smile at him._

 

_"Please don't leave this room." He exited the room, not looking back at him. Was Greed going to simply stand there and do nothing? Absolutely not. He chuckled softly, pushing himself off the wall. This was the first time he had seen Central after he was 'reborn', and he thought that even though it was a pretty big city, it was a little bit too quiet. He doesn't really like the quiet._

_Greed looked around the office with his fox-like eyes, thinking that it was pretty neat. But he wouldn't have settled for something as small and mediocre."Greed, if you're thinking of doing something..."_

 

_"Oh relax, pissant. I'm just looking at the layout. You'd think they could make it bigger for the damn Fuher"_

 

_"This is actually pretty big for an office."_

 

_"Well it's not big enough!" Greed snapped at Ling, which the latter thought that was uncalled for. "Alright. Well how would you have it in your office, if you had one? Since you obviously know so much."_

 

_Greed smirked, preparing to go on a big rant. "Gladly! This room needs to be bigger, see this window? Why the hell would you put a window right behind where you sit? A sniper can just take you right out and you won't know what happened." He walked over to Wrath's collection of swords on the wall._

 

_"Instead of putting weapons on the wall, put your possessions. Like medals and stuff. You know what I'm saying?" He glanced at the wooden desk beside him and reached for the drawer, opening it with a small tug. It was pretty neat, files stacked orderly and no junk lying around. But there was a blue Amestrian military hat sitting in the back of the drawer, seemingly untouched for quite some time. "Also..." He grabbed the hat and put it on his head, it was a perfect fit._

 

_"Know what you want." Greed looked at the reflective glass, straightening the hat out. "If you don't know what you want in your future, then you don't know anything at all."_

 

_He smirked again, admiring how 'professional' he looked. "This whole world is going to be mine..." He reached back and casually flipped his hair. "All mine-"_

 

_Greed glanced at the door, catching a glimpse of someone in blue, but he didn't comprehend it was an actual person until it was too late. A man, wearing the standard Amestrian uniform with jet black hair, giving him a slightly confused look._

 

_"..."_

 

_"..."_

 

_"...Am I interrupting something?"_

 

_Greed froze up, his tongue getting tied up in the embarrassment. They stared at each other for a few moments, both of them not making a sound. "...Why are you here?" And who the hell are you?" He was giving him the biggest stink eye he could ever give someone, but only to be intimidating.  
_

 

_"I needed to ask King Bradley something. And my name is Colonel Roy Mustang. " His gaze turned intense. "Why don't you tell me you're here? And who are you?"_

 

_"Reasons. Classified, reasons. And I don't have to tell you."_

 

_"When you say classified, do you mean talking to yourself while looking at a window and flipping your hair?" Greed bit his bottom lip gently, his eyes bouncing back and forth from the corners of his eyes. The man raised his brow at him, his gaze softening. "Are you okay? Your face really red."_

 

_"S-Shut up, just...He'll be here in a minute! Now go!" He was desperately trying to get him to leave. "Alright, whatever you say." Roy turned to walk out, but he was walking rather slowly. As if to tease Greed. The homunculus let out a frustrated sigh. "Go! Now, damnit!"_

 

_He he put his hands on his shoulders and pushed him towards the door. As soon as he was at the opening, he shoved him out of the office, and slammed the door on him._

 

_"...Is my face really that red?"_

 

* * *

 

 Ling was literally dying of laughter.

 

 _"Oh my lord.."_ Ling said in between wheezes, trying to catch his breath. After the 'incident', every time he was reminded of it, he would burst into fits of laughter. Each and every time he did, it made Greed want to vomit. "Yeah, yeah..Laugh it up, why don'tcha?"

 

While Ed and Roy were quarreling over something simple, and Ling was trying to calm himself down, Greed was staring at Roy. "Colonel...What's a Colonel again?" He asked Ling, because he really didn't know a lot of military terms. "It means I'm the senior officer." Roy somehow heard him mumble that question.  "Which is below a marshal or captain. If you have no idea what I just said, let's just say that I'm in the military."

 

He rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah, I knew that."

 

"...Oh hey, I know you. You're that one guy who flips their ha-" Roy smirked at him, but Greed stopped him before he could say anymore. " _Do not_ bring that up."

 

"So uh, Mustang, this is Greed. Greed, this is Mustang." Ed was hoping that Roy wouldn't try to burn Greed to a crisp. "He's a homunculus, he's on our side, and his nickname is princess."

 

Roy's expression changed when he heard the H word that he really does not like to hear. "Are you sure we can trust him?" He asked Ed. He didn't want to lie, because Greed being loyal was very rare, but this was Mustang. "Yeah, don't worry about him, he's not like-" A loud bang interrupted their conversation that was coming from up above. The ceiling was starting to crack, and in a split second, the ceiling near the Laboratory 5 doors gave in, crashing to the ground in front of them.

 

Greed shielded his face with his arms, trying to keep the dust from getting in his eyes. "What the hell...?!" When he thought that the coast was clear, he slowly let his arms fall down to his side. Among the debris, he spotted an unfortunately, familiar person, and thought of him as a nuisance for the 200 years or more that he has known him for. The figure stood up, with those snake like eyes scanning the group, until they fixated themselves on Greed.

 

"Long time no see, brother..."

 

This day was just getting better by the minute.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I am SO sorry for not updating this for a whole fucking 2 months!!! I've just been really busy trying to get my grades up but guess what?
> 
> I AM BLESSED WITH SUMMER VACATION I AM SO HAPPY
> 
> Hopefully I will finish this story by July or August, because we've still got at least 10 or 15 chapters to go, but thank you everyone for reading/commenting/giving kudos to this! This has gotten way much more views than I expected, and I am very proud of that. And like I said, I'm very sorry for somewhat abandoning this story when it hasn't even gotten to the juicy parts yet. Thank you for reading, bye! :3


	24. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I always procrastinate? Why?? But anyway, things are going to get dark in hopefully 2 chapters. Like, very dark. So please stick around, because it's going to be angsty. 
> 
> Yo, kudos and comments give me life. So please write a review in the comments, I really want to know what you think. But honestly, just reading this makes me very happy. So thank you again to those who have read/commented/ gave kudos.

Greed now currently wished that Roy would set him on fire at the moment. Out of all the people that had to come falling down from the ceiling, it just _had_ to be Envy. It had to be the little parasitic worm who wore skirts, which made it hard for Greed to determine what his gender was. While Scar was scolding Ling's half sister for not doing what he asked, the homunculus eyed Envy with a glare of disgust.

 

"Humans are so whiny..." Envy muttered, looking back towards the group. "You guys sure did make a mess down here." He said, gesturing to the ashes staining the ground. "Let's see, not only do we have the Fullmetal Alchemist, but we have the Flame Alchemist too! Even Scar, and the stupid chimera." Envy's eyes shifted towards Greed and he rolled his eyes. "And that guy..."

 

"You disgust me, Envy." Greed said bitterly, only getting a snicker out of the younger one. "Oh don't kid yourself, I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that you teamed up with those pathetic humans."

 

"I have my reasons." Roy Mustang stepped towards him and leaned in so that way they could both hear each other clearly. "What's he to you?"

 

"He's..." He looked at Envy in disappointment before continuing. "My brother." He felt ultimately ashamed to even be related to him. "Barely!" Envy must have heard him even though they were several meters away. Being a homunculus has it's perks.

 

"..Maggot."

 

"Rat!"

 

"Parasite!"

 

"Roach!"

 

"Enough!" Roy cut in between them with his loud and booming voice. "...Whatever. I don't really care. Now.." Envy eyed them all sadistically, having blood lust. "Who wants to die first?" The corners of his lips tugged into a sickening grin, making Scar even cringe in disgust. Roy stuck his hands in his pockets and walked closer towards him, but still kept his distance. "Hey, you're Envy, right? The one who can change his appearance?"

 

"Ah, so you've heard of me! I'm flattered, really. And Scar," He turned to the Ishvalan. "You're teaming up with him? May I remind, he basically slaughtered your people. Or should I say, incinerated them. I bet that if he wasn't there, your people would have won!" Scar narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't seem phased.

 

"I am aware of that." He replied, not wanting to go deeper into the subject. "...You've gotta be kidding me!" He face palmed and sighed dramatically. "What happened to being at each other's throats?! If you guys wanna kill each other, you should just do it! Oh, and don't even get me started with that traitor over there!" Envy pointed to Greed, still having plenty of fuel for the fire.

 

"He's my kind! He was created by the same person who created me! If I were you, I'd be going after him! Besides, he's only in it for himself." Envy gave Greed 'the look'. The look where you're trying to make a small pun that really does make sense. Greed sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Being compared to the Homunculi is one thing. Being compared to you, is way much worse."

 

"Oh but we're not so different." Envy smirked at him, making Greed furrow his eyebrows at him. He was a little confused on what he meant by that. "..If you weren't such a dense idiot, you would know what I'm talking about."

 

"Look..." Roy honestly could not listen to their bickering any longer. "I'm sick of you Homunculi giving me the runaround. I've enlightened you long enough. I want you to answer one of my questions now." Greed wondered why Roy could get everyone to listen to him so easily. Yes, he was apart of the military. But Greed was stronger than him, in multiple ways. All he had to do was make his shield cover his whole body and there would be no risk of getting burnt. How come he could get them to listen to him, but when it came to his own henchmen, it felt like they were ordering him around. He couldn't remember the last time he gave him a command, and they actually did as they were told. They just never really listened to him and it didn't make any sense.

 

Why was he even dwelling on that small detail? All he wanted (at the moment) was for them to show him some respect. But he couldn't figure out why he cared so much for something that was _supposed_ to be insignificant. The more he thought about it, the faster he knew that this was something that he hadn't felt before. What was it?

 

Was Greed jealous of Roy?

 

He snapped back to reality when he heard Envy suddenly laughing, which was enough to make his spine tingle from the utter creepiness. He didn't know why he was, but Roy must've did something to amuse him. "Congratulations, Mustang!" Envy bowed as if he was actually showing him respect. "You have officially found the man that murdered Maes Hughes!"

 

His laughter rang out in the huge white room, and no one else said a thing as it did. "...Maes what?" Greed asked, really lost on what was going on. "I think you're lying."

 

"Oh... You don't believe me? Well let me show something that might change your mind!" Envy's body started to produce sparks and flashes of red, and gradually morphed into the body of a young woman while he was talking. She had short beige colored hair and green eyes, though Greed didn't know who she was, he already knew she was at least somewhat important by the look on Roy's face. It went from calm and stoic to utterly horrified in a split second.

 

"Oh my god, you should see your face!" Her smile was twisted and malicious, it almost seemed like the woman was evil to begin with. "This is going to sound crazy, but that was the same look Hughes had when I shot him! The confusion, the terror he must've felt when his own very wife shot him!! It was absolutely-" Greed gritted his teeth, not being able to keep his temper under control.

 

"That's it!" He yelled, storming towards him. "I've had enough of your damn rambling!" His shield started to rise up on his arm. "I don't know why you're being so defensive, Greed. We're not so different!" Envy began to laugh, as if he was having the best time of his life. "I am _nothing_ like you!!" He retorted. Envy's laughter silenced for a moment, and he just simply stared at him. His disguise disappeared and he was back to his original form.

 

"...You haven't told them yet, have you?"

 

"Huh?" Greed raised his brow. "But I'm not surprised really. You say that you don't believe in telling lies, yet you kept secrets. Even from your own family." He didn't like where this was going, so he decided to avoid the conversation however he could. "Doesn't everyone?"

 

"...I've got an idea. Since this is a little honesty fest, I think it's time to reveal what _you_ did, Greed. After all, I confessed to killing Maes Hughes. Don't you think it's time for you to confess your dirty little deeds?" Now Greed _really_ didn't like where this was going. "I don't know what you're talking about. Now come on and fight me like the man you aren't!"

 

"Hmph. Well if you won't tell them..." Envy's smile seemed innocent, but scarily manipulative. "Then I will.~" He cleared his throat, acting like he was making a huge announcement. "I am happy to inform you all that your new friend Greed, is not all that 'good', let's just say." He said as he walked towards the other homunculus.

 

"Maybe it's because he single-handedly, murdered a poor innocent little gi-"

 

He was cut off by flames engulfing him and burning his hair and flesh, causing him to scream out in pain. Greed jumped out of the way just in time so he wouldn't get burnt in the process.

 

Thank god for Roy Mustang.

 

* * *

 

 

The little boy that was at least 700 years old gazed at the sight only a few yards away from him. There was a huge thunderstorm, and the rain was coming down on him, so his clothes were soaked. There was also flashes of lighting in the sky every couple of minutes. And it was at least 1 in the morning, maybe a little later. Pride had honestly just stumbled upon this, not really expecting to see something so unusual.

 

In front of him was a tall man, standing over a hole that was at least 4 feet deep. He had a shovel in his right hand, a slab of concrete was laying next to him, and something that was wrapped up in a carpet. His whole body was also drenched, and his slicked back hair was falling back down. The man didn't seem to notice the other, until he turned his head towards him. He froze up, not knowing what to do or say.

 

The boy could only say one thing at the moment.

 

"Greed?"

 

 

 


	25. Colors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what's my excuse for this one?
> 
> Uh, my grades are actually pretty good. But Marching Band is fun but a lot of work. So yeah? But I WILL finish this story! And I am still playing 'How Gay Can This Get without Making it Too Gay ' when it comes to this. So buckle up kids, we're going on a wild gay angst ride- I'm sorry okay I'm sitting in the back of room, writing this is Spanish class, all the while laughing my ass off because these two guys are being idiotically gay.
> 
> But I love all the things you guys are commenting! I squeal in happiness every time someone comments or gives this story kudos. So please keep on doing that! Thank you all!

_"Greed." The man sitting on the stone throne called out to the tall homunculus who was walking towards the huge opening in the lair. He was recently just born not even two weeks ago, and he had not seen or felt a ray of sunlight in his just-beginning life, or even a tree. And he had not seen most colors, only shades of black, white, grey, light yellow, red, and light purple. And if his father hadn't stopped him, he would have been on his way to see more. "Where are you going?"_

_The Homunculus turned towards him and gave him a nonchalant shrug. "I'm just havin' a look outside. I'll be back before you know it, pops." Greed said as he started walk away, but Father was not going to let him go that easily. "Greed, I would prefer you staying here and guarding the lair."_

 

_"Oh come on, what's so wrong with getting fresh air? It's just for five minutes, no big deal." Father looked down at him, staying silent for about a couple seconds before sighing softly. "Please, come here." Greed stopped, looking back at him. At this time, he was just figuring out his mind and his body, and just things about himself. And he had no idea just how rebellious he was/could be. So he turned around and started walking towards him._

 

_"What is it?" He asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Greed, you know about the Promised Day, do you not?"_

 

_"Of course I do. You talk about it all the time to me, and how we're all important and stuff." He remembered Father lecturing him about this important day, which he had trouble paying attention to. "And you know that you're job is to make sure no humans get inside the lair, so that-"_

 

_"I know, pops! I have to make sure that no human knows that this place exists except the ones that we're using for the plan." He was starting to talk faster because this was all engraved in his head, so he was just rambling at this point." And that if anything happens beyond my control, which nothing should, I should ask Lust. And if she can't help, ask Pride. And if Pride can't help, which he SHOULD be able to-"_

 

_"Then you should ask me. You've been paying attention, I see."_

 

_"Barely. But that's not the point." Greed sighed, throwing his head back. "Lust and Pride are always out there, so why can't I go?"_

 

_"Because you have a job to do. And that job is very important." Father replied, making the other slightly frustrated, "I know, but I just wanna see what's out there." He looked up at the jagged ceiling above him, wondering what would be there if the ceiling wasn't covering it up. "I know I'm greedy as hell, but is that so much to ask for?"_

 

_"No. It is not. And one day Greed, you will see what's out there. And you will know what it is. But for now, you need to stay down here and protect this place, for it is our only home. You know that, yes?" The Homunculus tilted his head back down, staring at the floor. As he did, he mumbled something that Father couldn't hear from his throne. "Greed? Did you say something?"_

 

_"Promise me." Greed said as he stepped over the pipes surrounding the throne, gradually getting closer towards him. "Promise me that you'll let me go out there." Him and Father locked eyes for a few moments before the blonde sighed, nodding. "Very well. I promise you that I will let you go outside."_

_The corners of Greed's lips tugged into a very small, almost invisible genuine smile. "Thanks, dad."_

 

_For the first time in Greed's life, he called his father 'Dad'._

 

* * *

 

 "Damn parasite got us separated..." Greed muttered to himself as he walked through the tunnel, waiting for anyone to come near by. It was honestly kind of boring just walking around, not knowing who was who anymore because of Envy's ability to shape-shift. So he decided to strike up a conversation with Ling, because he had essentially nothing else to do.

 

"Hey Ling. I'm bored out of my mind, talk to me."

 

 _"About what, Greed?"_ Ling asked, sitting down with his legs crossed. He was trying to meditate, but the souls that made up Greed's philosopher stone were not agreeing with his choice of action. "I dunno, talk. Ask me things." The teenager sighed, trying to think of a question.  _"What's your favorite color?"_

 

That seemed to take Greed by surprise for a moment. "Favorite color? Uh... I don't really know."

 

 _"You don't have a favorite color? Come on, you have to have one. And it's okay if it's a standard."_ Ling waited for his response, but he just shrugged slightly. "Ling, I don't take the time to analyze colors and see what I think of them. I don't really pay attention to colors that much. I have way much more on my mind than that, if you haven't noticed."

 

 _"You can't be serious. Red? Blue? Black-"_ Greed stopped walking and turned his head slightly. "...What's blue?" He asked, making Ling blink a couple times.  _"You know, the color."_

 

"Blue is a color? But it sounds like the flu, except the F is replaced with B." The young boy couldn't believe what he was hearing, and for a second he thought he was joking around with him. Greed really didn't know what the color blue was.  _"You seriously don't know what the color blue is?"_

 

"...No." He shook his head. "I've heard it before...I think. I know black, green, and...Yellow!"

 

 _"Alright, you know the sky-"_ The sound of incoming footsteps made Ling stop in the middle of his sentence. "Greed!" The Homunculus turned around and gazed at Ed, who was running towards him. But once he got closer to him, he stopped and bent over, panting heavily. "Ed, what happened?"

 

"Envy and Mustang...they went at it." Ed stood up straight and stared at the ground. "Mustang... He's dead." He said, clenching his fist. Greed's eyes widened slightly, but he managed to remain calm and collected. He muttered a curse word under his breath and tilted his head up at the compacted dirt ceiling. "Hey. I need you to lift me up."

 

"Huh? Why?" Ed crossed his arms, imitating what Greed did. "Aren't you supposed to be carrying me? I'm shorter, anyway." 

 

He went silent for a few seconds, before extending his arm shield covered arm and swiftly cutting Ed's right cheek with his razor sharp claws. Ed immediately jumped back as fast as he could. "Seriously?" Greed asked him nonchalantly. "The real Ed would never admit that he's short. You think after so long, you would know him a little bit better." 

 

The cut on Ed's cheek healed with just a small red spark and a smirk on his face followed right after. "You're more observant than I thought you were." His body morphed to one of his unpleasant forms, and to Greed that was really every form that he took on. "Yeah? Well I tend to surprise people."

 

"Tell me Greed, how long are you going to tag along with those humans? I know for a fact that they can't beat Father. And you do too." Envy said, crossing his arms and trying to set a relaxed mood. He wanted to somehow remind Greed that they were brothers, and maybe even convince him to come back to Father's side. "Oh come on, Envy." The older said. "I don't care if they can beat him or not, my priorities are way much bigger than betting on battles. So if you're asking for me to come back, my answer is no."

 

"You think you're special because you rebelled from us? You think you're different? We were created by Father; you're no exception." 

 

He narrowed his eyes at Envy. "So just because I was made by him, it means I have to do whatever he says and follow every damn command like a dog? Like hell I will." He spat back at him, just about ready to start a fight. "Oh, but why not? ...He's your father, is he not? So for once, why don't you actually listen to him?"

 

"Working for that old geezer got me nowhere!" Greed spat again. Envy noticed the emotion that he was starting to show, so he kept going. "Greed, as much as I hate you, I would love it if you would just forget about your ambitions and rejoin us. And don't worry about the punishment. He's obviously way too busy now to deal with this situation."

 

"...Since you didn't hear me clearly, i'll say it again." He said as he stared at him coldly. "My answer, is  _no._ " 

 

"Fine. If you're not going to be any use in the plan," Envy's devilish smirk appeared. "Then I'll just have to get rid of you myself-!" A flash of bright yellow-ish orange engulfed him too fast for Greed to comprehend, but he backed up anyway because of his fast reflexes. Envy's blood curdling screams gave him more clarity on the situation at hand. Again, thank god for Roy Mustang.

 

Roy was standing to the left of him while holding out his hand with his middle finger firmly resting on his thumb. Greed would only admit mentally that creating flames with just one snap was very unique. He had even thought of taking those from him when he took over the world and using it for his own needs. As for Envy, the smell of his burning flesh was filling the air. "Perfect timing..." He muttered. He took a few steps to engage in a short lived conversation with the Colonel, but he froze in his spot. Roy's hand wasn't pointing at Envy.

 

Now it was pointing at Greed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *smiles awkwardly* that's all folks-


	26. Ruthlessness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there. Yes, I'm alive. Surprisingly. Uuuuhhh a lot of personal shit has been happening. Like, a lot. And I completely forgot that I left this on a cliffhanger, but I am back and I'm ready to finish this fucker. By the way, happy Valentines Day!
> 
> And now here's why Roy is being a douche canoe.

"...You shouldn't be pointing something like that at somebody." Greed said as he eyes Roy's hand. "I mean, with my ultimate shield, the only thing it's gonna do is leave me naked, so..." He was trying to play this off as smoothly as he could, even though he actually preferred having clothes on. In the midst of that, he was still trying to figure out why Roy was silently threatening him to burn him to a crisp.

 

"I'm not up for small talk, Homunculus." Roy stated. Greed noticed that he wasn't calling him by his actual name, but by what he genetically was. 

 

 _'Greed, you hear that? He's putting you in the same group as Envy and the rest of the Homunculi... Maybe he thinks that you're still working for them.'_ He could never deny that Ling was good at analyzing people, and he also couldn't deny that it was pretty useful in situations like this. "Alright, then how about you put your arm down?"

 

"I'm not putting my arm down until I get some answers. Tell me..." Roy narrowed his eyes at him. "What were you two talking about? You and Envy. And don't lie to me, because if I figure out you are-"

 

"Yeah, yeah. You're literally gonna light my ass on fire. Fun fact about me: I don't like telling lies. And if you're suggesting that I'm still on their side, then you're dead wrong. Though, I will admit that my poor excuse of a brother tried to convince me to join them again." His eyes flickered downward as he swore that he felt the sting on his flesh from his previous body being burned in a slow, and painful way. "But I'm never going back. Ever."

 

Roy seemed satisfied with his alibi, but it also seemed like he wasn't finished with questioning him. "Alright, now what about earlier in the fifth laboratory?"

 

"Huh? What about it?" He wondered if he said something wrong that somehow made him question his intentions. "Envy mentioned that you and him have a lot in common, and I'm guessing something that had to do with murdering a child?" Greed's face got suddenly hot, and he unintentionally gulped without even knowing it. "That's my personal business."

 

"I'm not trying to get into your business, I just care about the safety of everyone else. If you just tell me what happened, I'll see if I can trust you. And if you choose not to, then you can consider yourself as charcoal." 

 

"..." He did not feel like getting too deep into that certain subject, but he  _really_ didn't feel like getting burned to a crisp (again). He weighed out the pros and cons of the situation and let out a sigh when he realized that he was going to have to spill, whether he liked it or not. "Alright. Since you can't keep your nose out of my privacy, then I guess I'm going to have to do a little bit of story telling. It was about 100 years ago..."

 

* * *

 

 

_"Ah, there you are." The tall, muscular figure walked towards the old man that was holding a leather vest with fur on the collar. "You're a pretty shitty hider, you know? I bet a blind kid could find you. Now I'm gonna be a nice guy and kindly ask you to give it back." He gave him a smirk, as he was expecting him to do as he was told._

 

_The old man shriveled back in fear, clutching the vest. Greed's smirk left his face as soon as he saw that. "Alright, just give me back my vest, won't you?" He narrowed his eyes at him. "I don't like it when people steal things from me. So give it back." The man did not move, he was in the same spot and he did not inch even a little. The homunculus chuckled softly and gave him a toothy smile._

 

_"Fine. Be like that."_

 

_The shield was already on his arm and he was making his way towards him, with his razor sharp claws still glistening in the dull light it had. Greed had even spaced out for a moment as his arm plunged through a chest that was now bloodied. The old man seemed shocked, confused, and horrified, and yet..._

 

_He wasn't the one who got stabbed._

 

_Greed furrowed his eyebrows and slowly tilted his head down. Light green eyes were staring at him, and their ragged clothing was stained red. A little girl had jumped in between the old man and Greed, causing her to get caught in the crossfire. His eyes widened and his stomach completely dropped as he had only a few seconds to decide what to do while his hand was straight through her chest and came out of her back._

 

_He couldn't find the strength to look away from her eyes. And then her eyes turned dull, and she went limp._

 

_"E-Emilia..." The man mumbled. Out of impulse, he pulled his arm out and she fell to the ground, creating a pool of blood beneath her. For the first time in his long life, Greed did not know what to do. Thoughts were bouncing off the walls in his mind, thoughts like 'Should I say sorry?', 'Should I take the vest and run?', 'What should I do?'._

 

_While he was thinking about these things, the man fell down to his knees and gently cradled her body in his arms. "You... You monster.." He said with a shaky voice. "You monster!!"_

 

_"I..." Greed stammered a little and bit his lip. He had no clue what to say to him at the moment to make the situation any better. "People- No, monsters like you need to rot in hell! How could you? She was only eight years old!!" He continued to yell and curse at him in agony. Greed's chest felt like someone was squeezing it tight and had no intention to let go. What was this feeling?_

 

_He swallowed and turned around, making up his mind. He didn't know them, nor did he intend to kill the little girl. In Greed's mind, he didn't do anything wrong on purpose._

 

_So he should just walk away._

 

_Greed sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking away, dragging his feet. But it didn't deafen the sobbing of the old man holding the girl in his arms. Every step he took, it felt like he was getting louder. Greed knew that it wasn't him, it was the small little area of compassion in his heart that was turning the volume up. And it kept on bumping up the level until he couldn't take another step._

 

* * *

 

"It was an accident." Greed finished. "And it was a long time ago, before you were even born." Though he gave him his honest explanation, Roy's expression did not falter. "So you just left?"

 

"..No. That's all I'm gonna tell you. Am I off the hook now? Because we've got a roach running around-" Roy suddenly pushed on Greed's chest, shoving him out of the way. "What the-?!"

 

A loud screech rang out. The sound of someone, preferably Envy, getting seared was not a good one. Though if Greed did not move, his back would have been sliced right open. A blonde woman came behind him with a pistol in her hand, he remembered that she was his partner, of some sort. Pretty soon Ed would show up too from the scene they were making.

 

Ling was silent during the story. He knew that Greed was a Homunculus, but he wasn't prepared to know that he also had killed a child, accident or not. He felt like maybe he underestimated him and his ruthlessness.

 

"Now then..." Roy's unwavering face finally contorted into an expression that showed he was lusting for revenge. 

 

"Time to finish what Hughes started."

 

 

 


End file.
